AAS 74 - Vaticano

608 Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale
ITINERA APOSTOLICA
EX HABITIS DUM SUMMUS PONTIFEX AFRICAM PERAGRAT DELECTAE ALLO­
CUTIONES.
Ad Exc.mum Virum Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Nigeriae Praesidem, quem
Summus Pontifex in palatio vulgo State House cognominato invisit. *
Mr President,
1. I am deeply grateful for the kind words that you have addressed
to me and by which you off er, in the name of all the Citizens of Nigeria,
a warm welcome to your country. You will allow me to express the
feelings that fili my heart at this moment by quoting from your own
poem "Wakar Nigeriya" : "And thank God that he placed us among
the people of Nigeria" ! These words, which so many of your fellow-
citizens have recited, can now aptly describe the firm bond between
the whole nation and myself. Like you, I want to thanlc Almighty God
for letting me be in Nigeria today and for giving me this longed-for
visit to the people of this great nation.
I also thank you, Mr President, for the kind invitation which you
extended to me. That, in doing so, you spoke for the whole of Nigeria
has already been made manifest by the enthusiastic welcome which I
am receiving from the people. I would ask you, today even more than
before, to consider me one of your own, for indeed I come to this land
as a friend and a brother to ali its inhabitants.
2. On this my second visit to Africa, I wish to stress the essentially
religious character of my journey, which begins most fìttingly in Ni­
geria. I come to confimi my brother Bishops—who also extended to
me a cordial invitation—in their pastoral endeavours ; I come to share
with my Catholic brethren moments of prayer and of common cél­
ébration. I come to confess with other fellow Christians and with my
brothers and sisters of other faiths our common belief in the goodness
and mercy of Almighty God. My message is one of peace and love, of
brotherhood and faith. Of faith in God, certainly, but also of faith in
humanity, of confidence in the marvellous possibilities of every man,
woman and child.
* Die 12 m. Februarii a. 1982.