Luanda - The Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança da Costa, participated this Friday, in Luanda, in the mass in honour of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died on 31 December 2022, in the Vatican City.
The mass that was celebrated by the Archbishop of Luanda, Filomeno Vieira Dias, took place in the Holy Family Church. It was also attended by the Parliament Speaker, Carolina Cerqueira, the minister of Foreign Affairs, Teté António, the minister of Culture, Filipe Zau, and the secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Esmeralda Mendonça.
During his homily, the Archbishop of Luanda, Dom Filomeno Vieira Dias, highlighted the achievements of Pope Benedict XVI and the service he has provided to the church throughout his ministry and he considered Pope Benedict XVI to be one of the most influential theological and philosophical personalities of the 20th century, in the history of the Catholic Church, being a humanist and zealous guardian of the heritage of faith and determined in its defence.
At the time, the Vatican´s Apostolic Nuncio in Angola, Archbishop Giovanni Gaspari, thanked the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, for having, at the first hour, expressed his solidarity with the Vatican on the physical death of Pope Benedict XVI, through a condolence message.
Archbishop Gaspari also emphasized the high sense of solidarity of the Angolan authorities, saying that it expresses the clearest recognition of the Angolan State´s relationship with the Holy See and the Church.
On his turn, the minister of Foreign Affairs, Teté António, highlighted the achievements of Benedict XVI, stressing the current level of relations between the Angolan State and the Holy See, supported by the Framework Agreement signed in the Vatican which is in force since 2019.
Teté António emphasised the role of the church in the field of education and moralisation of society, always with a view to contributing to the integral development of Angolan youth.
During the service, reverend Dorcas Teca and the bishop of the Methodist Church, Gaspar Domingos, prayed with the Catholic believers.
Benedict XVI was Pope between 2005 and 2013. He was born in 1927 in Marktl am Inn, in the German diocese of Passau, he became the first German to head the Catholic Church in many centuries and a representative of the Church´s most dogmatic line.
