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WASHINGTON (CNS) – Pope Francis joined church and government leaders from around the world in crediting Nelson Mandela for a steadfast commitment to promoting human rights and upholding the dignity of all people in response to the death Dec. 5 of the former president of South Africa.
In a message to South Africa President Jacob Zuma, Pope Francis said he offered a prayer to assure that Mandela’s efforts to forge a new nation based on nonviolence, reconciliation and truth after the apartheid era “will inspire generations of South Africans to put justice and the common good at the forefront of their political aspirations.”
The pontiff also asked God to “console and strengthen all who mourn (Mandela’s) loss.”
Mandela, who had been battling complications from a lung infection, died at his home in Johannesburg. He was 95.
Peaceful leadership
Others commended Mandela for leading a peaceful transition to democratic rule after he was released from prison in 1990 after 27 years and his election in 1994 as South Africa’s first black president.
President Barack Obama praised Mandela for striving to achieve a “democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.”
“We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again,” Obama said during a press briefing Dec. 5. “So it falls to us as best we can to forward the example that he set, to make decisions guided not by hate, but by love, to never discount the difference that one person can make, to strive for a future that is worthy of his sacrifice.”
The Catholic Church in Southern Africa said the death of Mandela brought great sadness and expressed its gratitude “for the sacrifice he made for all peoples of South Africa and for the leadership and inspiration he gave in leading us on the path of reconciliation.”
“The greatest way we can acknowledge the life of Nelson Mandela is to strive for the ideals he cherished: freedom, equality and democracy, and to defend these ideals from those who would corrupt them,” the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said in a statement signed by Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town.
Stuck to principles
Mandela “never compromised on his principles and vision for a democratic and just South Africa where all have equal opportunities, even at great cost to his own freedom,” the statement said.
When Mandela was released from prison, “the country was in turmoil and blood was being spilt almost daily,” the bishops said. “Through his leadership at that time, reinforced when he became president in 1994, he led the country on the path of reconciliation and peace, calling on South Africans to throw all arms of destruction into the sea. For this we shall always be indebted to him.”
Archbishop Brislin said Mandela inspired the world. To honor Mandela’s memory and continue the struggle for justice in South Africa and elsewhere, people must seek a just order that includes all people, end discrimination, eradicate poverty, ensure that people live in dignity, have honest government untainted by corruption and care for the poorest and most vulnerable people in society, he said.
Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, a South African priest who served in Mandela’s cabinet, said the former president “was such a servant of the people that I sometimes thought, ‘This man should have been a priest, not me.’”
The priest said that as deputy minister of education he once opened a new school in a poor rural area of South Africa in Mandela’s presence.
“I felt so small and wondered why he didn’t take over and officiate. But he put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Smangaliso, this is your day. I am here to stand next to you and give you support.’ That was the kind of man he was,” Father Mkhatshwa said.
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