The Second Synod for Africa: A New Pentecost, a New Road to Emmaus

Abstract

Fifteen years after the first Synod for Africa, the “Second Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Africa” took place in Rome from 4 to 25 October 2009. This event of the Catholic Church in Africa, considered as a “New Pentecost,” constituted the climax of a process started earlier. It is the late Pope John Paul II who first announced it in November 2003. And in June 2005 Pope Benedict XVI convoked it. The theme of this Second Synod for Africa was “The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace.” Around two hundred bishops from Africa and Madagascar, together with twenty other bishops from other continents, priests, religious and lay delegates constituted this special ecclesial assembly for Africa during three weeks in the Vatican.