Africa Must “return love for love,” Vatican-based Nigerian Catholic Archbishop Calls for Renewed Missionary Zeal Abroad

He added, “This is the moment to show our joy for the sacrifices that were made by the missionaries, men and women, who brought us the gospel.”

“If these people showed us so much love, this is our time to return love for love,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said.

Organized by the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN), the October 31 palaver explored the theme “Celebrating 50 Years of Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975–2025): Evangelization and Africa’s Mission to Africa and the World”.

In a concept note that was shared with ACI Africa ahead of the event, organizers of the palaver said, “Evangelii Nuntiandi remains a living word for our times because it speaks of evangelization as both gift and task. The Gospel must first be received deeply within our hearts before it can be shared with others.”

In his presentation, Archbishop Nwachukwu noted that Pope Francis had often praised Evangelii Nuntiandi as “the greatest document ever written on evangelization,” inspiring his own 2013 Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). 

“For us in Africa,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said, “evangelization should be an occasion of joy — the joy of announcing Christ, the joy of giving back what we received.”

Drawing inspiration from Psalm 126, the Vatican official introduced what he called “the moment of the Church of the Sheaves.” 

The psalm, he explained, speaks of those who “go out weeping, carrying seed for the sowing” and return “with songs of joy, carrying their sheaves.”

The first moment, he said, belongs to the missionaries from the West — “those heroes of our faith” — who left their homelands in youth and vitality to bring the Gospel to Africa, often at the cost of their lives.

“They were in their twenties and thirties,” he recalled, adding, “They left their families, their comfort, and came to our lands without planes or cars, and many of them died young.”

Archbishop Nwachukwu emphasized, “We are the products of their sacrifices. Now it is our time to bring in the sheaves — to offer back to the universal Church the fruits of the faith we have received.”

To do this effectively, the Vatican-based Catholic Archbishop said, African missionaries must be well prepared for new environments and cultural contexts. 

“When you put a child in a room, you must first teach the child how to behave. Otherwise, the child will be like Alice in Wonderland,” he said, stressing the importance of missionary formation and welcome centers to help African Priests and Religious integrate smoothly abroad.

He called on the African Episcopal Conferences to develop missionary funds to support evangelization both within and beyond the continent. 

“We must show that we are no longer babies in the crib. We have come of age and can now support our brothers and sisters,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said.

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Also speaking during the October 31 palaver, the First Deputy Secretary General of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) described the growing number of African missionaries serving in Europe, North America, Asia, and Latin America as a “providential inversion of missionary history.”

“The task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church. Evangelization is not simply a chapter in the life of the Church; it is its very identity,” Fr. Zéphirin Moubé said.

He added, “Africa used to receive the Good News from courageous missionaries who crossed seas and deserts. Today, the continent becomes a missionary continent — the new lungs of the Church.”

The SECAM official described Africa’s missionary dynamism as a new chapter in the ongoing history of Evangelii Nuntiandi.

“Once evangelized, Africa now evangelizes in turn. Once a receiver of faith, it becomes a generous donor,” he said.

Calling African missionaries a sign of the Holy Spirit’s continuing action, Fr. Moubé urged the continent’s local Churches to share the spiritual fruits they have received.

“So that the world may rediscover the face of Christ — always young and radiant,” the Cameroonian-born Catholic Priest said.