Southern African Catholic Bishops call for a “renewed humanity” amid global and local challenges

Ahead of the Christmas celebration, the members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) have called on the people of God to embrace Christ’s values and for a renewed humanity.

In their Christmas message signed by the SACBC President Bishop Sithembele Anton Sipuka, the Catholic bishops in South Africa, Botswana, and Eswatini reflect on the season’s meaning and invite all to embrace the values of Christ – the Prince of Peace, for personal transformation and societal renewal.

Christmas as a Season of Joyful Unity

The bishops began by highlighting Christmas as a celebration of the Incarnation, where God becomes human, and as a “season of joy because it commemorates the historical fact of God becoming human.”

Drawing from St. Augustine, the bishops emphasize that “our hearts find rest in God,” illustrating the deep yearning for divine connection. In the message, the bishops compare historical slavery to contemporary inequalities, such as economic exploitation, systemic poverty, rising violence, gender-based crimes, and family murders in the SACBC region.

“Today,” they said, “although slavery no longer manifests in the form of individuals having and treating other human beings as animals and commodities, slavery continues to exist in many ways.”

In the Christmas message signed by the Local Ordinary of Mthatha Diocese, the bishops lament the “lack of respect for human life” as the “murder of families and suffocation of economic life through extortions,” are on the rise.

Global and Local Challenges

The bishops went on to critique global inequalities, especially in the economy, and condemn disproportionate violence, referencing the conflict in Gaza and the broader issues of injustice and suffering worldwide.

Referring to recent Pontiffs, the bishops recall the “explicit suggestions” made “about the direction globalisation should take.”

“St John Paul II has expounded on the need for the globalisation of solidarity, and the present pope speaks a lot about the globalisation of sympathy rather than the globalisation of indifference and the globalisation of inclusion rather than the globalisation of exclusion,” they said.

Call to Embrace New Humanity

Referencing Galatians (5:22-23), the bishops contrast the destructive qualities of the “old humanity” with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control.”