In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with you!

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

I am very happy to meet you: members of the delegation of the International Foundation for Religions and Societies, who are committed to promoting quality Catholic education in Africa and fostering better missionary cooperation between the South and the North.

Your pilgrimage, which takes place a few days after the Jubilee of the World of Education, testifies to your desire to continue the work initiated here in Rome and to take up new challenges in the African context. This is the message of your second Congress, which will be held in two weeks' time in Nairobi, on the theme “Catholic education and the promotion of signs of hope in the African context”.

I am touched by your interest in the formation of African youth and by your efforts to offer them a quality education, imbued with African identity, as recommended by the African Educational Pact. Indeed, “today, in our educational contexts, it is worrying to see the increasing symptoms of widespread inner fragility, at all ages. We cannot close our eyes to these silent cries for help” (Meeting with educators on the occasion of the Jubilee of the World of Education, 31 October 2025).

I encourage your engagement, which is not limited to Catholic education, but which extends equally to missionary cooperation between North and South. By sending His disciples two by two (cf. Lk 10:1), the Lord Himself also wanted to emphasize the need for collaboration in proclaiming the Good News. Mission requires working in synergy, avoiding isolation and accepting to build strong pastoral solidarity, which is not limited to economic means, but also includes the exchange of pastoral workers between Churches. This work deserves to be well organized, in order to facilitate their smooth integration into the host dioceses. I therefore commend your meeting last May at Maredsous Abbey, which provided an opportunity to reflect on how best to prepare for this missionary cooperation between South and North, and above all on the decision to create an International Centre for Missiology and North-South Pastoral Care. It is my hope that this institution will come into being and, above all, that it will achieve the objectives set out in your resolutions, for “we want to recover, together, a missionary spirit: a missionary outreach that courageously and lovingly proposes the Gospel of Jesus” (Address to participants in the international meeting of priests organised by the Dicastery for the Clergy, 26 June 2025).

Thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for all that you do: you remind us all of the beauty of evangelization. Let us ask the Lord for the grace to be missionary disciples and pastors according to His will. May He inspire your projects and may the Holy Spirit sustain you in your commitment to the service of the Gospel. Thank you!

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Holy See Press Office Bulletin, 7 November 2025