The centrality of the Archbasilica Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome “gives a focus that all Churches lead to Rome,”, the Archbishop of Gabarone Diocese, Botswana has said.

Addressing fellow Bishops during a mass celebrated at St John Lateran Basilica, Archbishop Frank Atese Nubuasah said, “The centrality of this basilica as the Papal cathedral church gives us a focus that all the churches lead to Rome, that all the churches lead to the Lateran Cathedral.”

“It’s like we have come home like the children have come home. And home is where we belong,” said Archbishop Nubuasah on Thursday, June 15.

The Local Ordinary of Gabarone Diocese described St John Lateran Basilica as the Mother Church.

“We are in the mother church. I know Cape Town prides itself as being the mother town or Mother City, but this is a Real McCoy. This is a cathedral church of the Holy Father,” he remarked.

He went on to say that “Rome is where Jesus is” and that the Bishops Ad Limina visit is a sign of solidarity and unity with the universal Church and with the Holy Father, an opportunity for faith renewal.

He said, “We are one church, one body of Christ,” and that in his experience “there is no other organization, not even the United Nations, that is spread out in the world like the Catholic Church.”

“We have tentacles and constituencies everywhere, and whatever we do has influence, it touches the lives of many, and when in the gospel of today, we see in the teaching of Jesus that he wants to give us life, he wants us to have life, and have it to the full, we know that that’s not only for us, the ministers, but for everyone who is Baptized in Jesus Christ,” he added.

“Paul wrote in the first reading of today that we are seeing the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image, from 1 degree of glory to another,” said Archbishop Nubuasah in reference to the day’s reading taken from 2 Corinthians 3:15-4:1, 3-6.

In his Thursday, June 15 homily Archbishop Nubuasah lauded women for their contribution and participation in the life of the church. “Do not underestimate the power of the ladies in your diocese and in your lives,” he said.

“Today I want to recognize our mothers, our sisters… I want to pay tribute to all the evangelizing Spirit actions, deeds, and power of all women, especially religious missionary women who have come to our lands, who have given their lives, and who are lying down in our soil. Without them, the church may not have grown as it has,” said Archbishop Nubuasah

In his concluding remarks, the 73-year-old Archbishop said that he treasures the “unity, the brotherhood and the love” experienced during his 24 years of service to the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC).