Angolan Catholic Archbishop Suggests Need to “rediscover a taste for dialogue” amid World Conflicts

Luanda, 17 December, 2025 / 4:52 PM

Archbishop Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias of Angola’s Catholic Archdiocese of Luanda has underscored the need for dialogue as armed conflicts continue to devastate various regions of the world.

Speaking on Tuesday, December 16, during a Christmas and New Year greetings ceremony with missionaries, women and men Religious, and lay pastoral leaders at Our Lady of Conception Cathedral of Luanda Archdiocese, Archbishop Dias expressed concern about ongoing wars and violence, calling on humanity to rediscover dialogue as a path toward peace, unity, and reconciliation, especially during the Christmas season. 

He cited conflict zones such as Gaza, Darfur in Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Ukraine, noting that crises in these places reveal the profound suffering of entire peoples.

“These situations reveal the suffering of entire peoples and challenge the conscience of humanity,” the Angolan Catholic Archbishop said.

He added, “War takes root in the refusal to be in the world as openness, in the refusal to be in the world as an attentive and extended ear ready to hear different words and stories.” 

The Archbishop of Luanda appealed for dialogue as an indispensable path to peace, saying that it is necessary to “rediscover a taste for dialogue and the capacity to listen, to learn, and to allow oneself to be transformed by encounter with others.”

For Archbishop Dias, “only in this way is it possible to create conditions for peaceful coexistence in communities and in society.”

He further emphasized that living Christmas involves sharing and reciprocity, recalling that “receiving is as good as giving,” and warning that “giving without a willingness to receive is violence.” 

According to him, true human fulfillment happens when people give themselves to others, because “by giving ourselves, we receive; by giving ourselves, we are enriched; by giving ourselves, we become more fully ourselves.”

“Christmas reminds us of God’s closeness to humanity and invites people to greater openness to others. Christmas always reminds us that the place to encounter God is the space, the ground of the human,” said the Catholic Archbishop, adding that “in Jesus Christ, God came to meet us.”

The Catholic Church leader appealed for solidarity, saying that Christmas should be lived with special attention to the most vulnerable.

 “No one gives life to himself; he can only receive it,” he said.

The 67-year-old Catholic Archbishop thanked the Priests, women and men Religious, and lay faithful of the Archdiocese for their witness, stating that “solidarity lived in daily life is a concrete sign of hope for the Church and for society.”

He wished all the faithful of the Archdiocese of Luanda a Merry Christmas, encouraging them to be “promoters of peace, reconciliation, and unity, and to bear witness through concrete gestures of solidarity.”

“I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, especially those dedicated laypeople, our religious men and women, and Priests who, for whatever reason, are living this time and these days with illness. Thank you all, my brothers and sisters, for this shared passion for Jesus Christ, for this desire to live in simplicity, bearing witness to humanity to the possibility and the capacity to build new heavens and a new earth,” Archbishop Dias said.