The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia Pastoral Message

“Peace be with you”  (Jn. 20:19)

Greetings to all of you, our Catholic Faithful and all people of God in Ethiopia, these are the words, for us Christians, with which our Lord Jesus Christ has greeted his disciples after being risen from death. These are the first words that our Pope Leo XIV has used when he greeted the whole world after his election to the service of the Pope. These are the words to which we all respond when, in our liturgical prayers, the priest says SELAM LE KULKIMU.

We, the Catholic Bishops of Ethiopia, amid our Plenary Assembly, held in Mojo from July 7^th to 11^th, greet you with the same words, PEACE BE WITH YOU. We have been deliberating prayerfully on the mission of the Church in our country, her opportunities and challenges. At the conclusion of our plenary assembly, we have decided to share this pastoral message, the fruit of our discernment, with all of you to encourage you to continue your faith journey with hope, peace, and joy.

We praise God for His Goodness and for pouring out the Grace we need in our mission and for providing us with many dedicated clergy, religious men and women, Catechists, lay faithful, and other pastoral agents.  We are all grateful to all pastoral agents for your generosity for working together in the spirit of synodality to witness to the Gospel in all the circumstances, renewing your dedication to walk together as one Church. We encourage you to put a priority on deepening faith formation for all age groups, carry on with the family apostolate and vocation animation and promotion activities with sustainable and proper plans. Our parishes, as per our wish expressed in the 10-year pastoral plan, need to become dynamic centers of evangelization, where all the baptized are much more empowered than before, and enable them to play an important role in the life and mission of the Church.

We encourage all of you to read the FINAL DOCUMENT of the synod on synodality and the newly released “Pathways for the Implementation Phase of the synod”. In this document, it is clearly stated that “every local church and every parish community is invited to be able to practice synodality within its ordinary pastoral ministry, improving the way it carries out its mission through the ecclesial discernment that the Holy Spirit asks of us today.” We would like to assure you that in all these efforts, we, your bishops, will remain closer to you to walk together with you.

Dear brothers and sisters, we are all deeply pained by the ongoing news of conflicts and uncertain situations. In these days in our world in general and in our country especially in Oromiya, Amhara, Tigray and other parts in particular, we continuously hear about conflict which results in loss of life, displacement of families, destruction of property and damage of nature, while the scars of the past wars and conflicts are still needs time to heal.

Yes, we want to listen once again to the words ‘PEACE BE WITH YOU’, as we are aware of the situation of our country and because we have been, as religious leaders, invited to continue to pray and work for peace in the different parts of our beloved country, Ethiopia. We, the Catholic Bishops of Ethiopia, once again invite all our Christian Faithful and people of God in Ethiopia to pray, fast, and work for Peace.

1. Let us pray for Peace: In the message for the last World Day of Peace on 1st January 2025, our late Pope Francis has prayed, saying, “Lord, grant us your peace! This is my prayer to God as I now offer my cordial good wishes for the New Year to the Heads of State and Government, to the leaders of International Organizations, to the leaders of the various religions, and to every person of goodwill. Forgive us our trespasses, Lord, as we forgive those who trespass against us. In this cycle of forgiveness, grant us your peace, the peace that you alone can give.”  We all call for a commitment to pray for the gift of peace in our country and the whole world, because we deeply believe that peace of heart in our individual and social lives is a gift coming from God, as life itself is a gift from God. It is a call that we all have received to protect life in human beings from its inception. We urge the people of God to take time to pray for the gift of peace in our individual moments of prayer and in our liturgical prayers, highlighting the supplication to God to forgive our sins and to give us the capacity to forgive each other. We also, in a particular way, pray so that the complicated and difficult realities of conflicts get political and social solutions around the table of negotiations and not with war and fighting, which demand a lot of patience and the capacity of magnanimity, and also the fear of God. For those who have responsibilities of administration and guidance in the government and opposition parties, we want to pray so that their efforts may contribute to the building of peace, reconciliation, respect for human dignity, and coexistence in our country.  We also know about the international character of conflict and wars in our world, so we continue to pray for the gift of peace in the whole world. 
2.  Fasting for Peace: “So, we fasted and pleaded with our God about this, and he heard us.” (Ezra 8:23) we know that in many Religious Traditions, fasting is used to express self-discipline and as well as an effort to focus on some issues in a non-violent way and trying to raise awareness on the cry for peace and justice. We know many of our brothers and sisters do face a serious shortage of food during war and conflict. We ask you, people of God, to fast for the sake of peace, in solidarity with those who suffer hunger and thirst, so that peace may reign in our country, Ethiopia, among its neighbours in Africa and in the whole world. We invite the people of God to program fasting in their daily life at the individual and community level, so that they may dedicate time for prayer and also for some action of fraternity. We need to fast not only from food but from gossip and also from hate speech in individual and social communication, as this increases conflict and puts more poison in our situation of unrest. We need to fast from participating in discussions and acts that increase hatred and conflict. In August, our faithful fast in preparation for the liturgical feast of FILSETA MARIAM; we urge our Catholics to put the intention of prayer for peace in their fasting.
3. Let us work for peace: “Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be recognised as children of God”. (Mt. 5:9) Dear brothers and sisters, we are all called to work for peace, which demands that we commit ourselves to work for peace, reconciliation, justice, respect for human life, and protection of Creation. We know that in our society, many people of goodwill work for peace. Yes, there are religious leaders, politicians, civil servants, a group of mothers and women for peace, and many youth leaders, who desire and labour for peace. We are aware that we all need each other in our commitment to peace. We invite the people of God in our country to collaborate with initiatives for peace, reconciliation, and brotherhood. This commitment is taken as the result of our faith experience, and we hope for the best and know that in loving brothers and sisters, we become more and more human beings with the dignity of each one of us created in God’s image and likeness.
   • “When conflicts are not resolved but kept hidden or buried in the past, silence can lead to complicity in grave misdeeds and sins. Authentic reconciliation does not flee from conflict, but is achieved in conflict, resolving it through dialogue and open, honest, and patient negotiation. Conflict between different groups if it abstains from enmities and mutual hatred, gradually changes into an honest discussion of differences founded on a desire for justice.” (Pope Francis in FT, All Brothers-Sisters, 244)

We Catholic Bishops of Ethiopia once again implore our Mother Mary, Queen of Peace, so that she may continue to intercede for the suffering people of God, in order to receive and creatively use the gift of peace from God, the Father of all. God Bless you!!!

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia
July 2025
Mojo, Ethiopia