At Conclusion of Malawi’s Maiden National Eucharistic Congress, Vatican Official Urges Christian Fraternity

The Jubilee Year, which Pope Francis officially launched on the eve of Christmas 2024 with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, he said, should continue helping the people of God “to remain anchored to the hope that does not disappoint, Romans 5, verse 5, so we do not get lost along the way.”

“The Lord does not want us, in this unity, to be a nameless and faceless crowd,” the Vatican official said, adding, “The unity for which Jesus prays is as a communion, grounded in the same love with which God loves, which brings life and salvation into the world.”

The 68-year-old PCIEC President, who previously served as Undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments reflected on divisions in today’s world, and described the human heart as “a liar of thoughts and actions that sets us against one another.”

“Experience has taught us that we live in a wounded, painful way that causes us suffering,” he lamented, and posed, “Is there a way to overcome these divisions? Is there a cure that heals the illness of our souls before those of our bodies?”

To overcome division and cure the illness of souls, Fr. Maggioni encouraged listening to the Word of God and participating in Eucharistic celebration, which he described as “an action that heals the spiritual and material wounds that trouble our existence and that of the world in which we live.”

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He explained that in the Eucharist, “we find the right medicine to heal the evils that sadden us, that disfigure the divine image in us, that set us against one another within our families and communities, as well as in civil society, at political, economic, and cultural levels.”

The SMM member went on to underscore the value of a Eucharistic Congress, acknowledging that “with its liturgical celebration, times of prayer and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, fraternal gatherings and reflections” it helps the people of God renew their commitment “to live with the grace of the Holy Spirit, strong in faith, steadfast in hope, and generous in charity.”

He presented the Catholic Church in Malawi with a Ciborium and an Altar set “as a sign of close fraternal closeness” on the part of the PCIEC with the people of God in the Southern African nation.

“In communion of prayer, I take this opportunity to extend my warmest greetings to you, to the Bishops of Malawi, and to all the participants in the First National Eucharistic Congress in Lilongwe,” Fr. Maggioni said in his August 9 message during the Closing Mass of the August 4–9 event, which the Malawi Conference of Catholic Bishops (MCCB) spearheaded under the theme, “Eucharist: Source and Summit of Pilgrims of Hope.”

Nicholas Waigwa is a Kenyan multimedia journalist and broadcast technician with a professional background in creating engaging news stories and broadcasting content across multiple media platforms. He is passionate about the media apostolate and Catholic Church communication.