AAS 80 - La Santa Sede

Acta Ioannis Pauli Pp. II 725
Düring the past five years you have witnessed a rapid growth of
your local Churches from three and a half to over four and a half mil­
lion members. A new Archdiocese and new Diocèses have been
established, and there has been an increase in the number of clergy
and men and women Religious. AU of this growth has been accompanied
by a consolidation of diocesan structures and apostolic works.
I am pleased to encourage you and ali the priests, Religious,
catechists and laity who have laboured to bring about this expansion
of the Kingdom of God in Tanzania. As I stated at the time of your
last ad Limina visit : "The criterion of your effective ministry—your
eífective episcopal ministry—is absolute fidelity to Jesus Christ and
his word. It is up to us to plant and to water ; God himself will give the
increase and make the seed of his word grow in his own good time.
He demands our trust, our obédience in preaching his message, our
patience in awaiting the full harvest of salvation". 6
3. Following the recent meeting of the Synod of Bishops, I wish to
stress that the work of evangelization is the òaptismal responsibility
of all those in your pastoral care. As the Second Vatican Council
teaches, "the obligation of spreading the faith is imposed on every
disciple of Christ, according to his abili ty". 7 Thus all lay Christians,
specifically by virtue of Baptism, are called by the Lord to engage in an
eífective apostolate : "For by its very nature the Christian vocation is
also a vocation to the apostolate". 8
While expressing my gratitude to ali the priests and missionaries
working in Tanzania, I also wish to encourage the laity to be true
witnesses to Christ, builders of the Christian community, helping to
transform the world with Gospel values. The witness of an exemplary
Christian life is already an act of evangelization. I hasten to add that
the witness of Christian living through example is not enough in itself.
It has to be preceded and accompanied by the proclamation of the
Good News of salvation in Christ, which is at the heart of all the
Church's action of evangelization. And both thèse essential éléments
must be sustained by prayer and sacrifice.
4. In a society such as yours where a great part of the population
belongs to traditional African religions, I praise the many lay
« Discourse of 9 October 1981.
7 Lumen Gentium, 17.
* Apostolicam Actuositatem, 2.