Nuncio Speaks to Pioneer Bishop of New Nigerian Diocese
By Church News
The Pope’s Representative in Nigeria, the Nuncio has urged the first Bishop of the newly created Catholic Diocese of Wukari to live his Episcopal Ministry through the fostering of unity among the people of God under his pastoral care.
In his homily during the Episcopal Ordination of Mons. Mark Maigida Nzukwein and Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi underscored the role of a Bishop as “one who builds bridges” between people in their diversities with each other and with God.
“We understand the particular mission entrusted to our brother Mark as the first Bishop of Wukari. Like all Bishops, he must be the visible principle and foundation of unity of his Church,” Archbishop Filipazzi said in his homily during the Thursday, April 13 Ordination celebration held at GSS Ibi Road in Wukari.
Addressing himself to the Episcopal candidate who was appointed Bishop on December 14, the Apostolic Nuncio said, “Dear new Bishop, today you receive the fullness of Christ’s Priesthood and become ‘Pontifex’, that is, one who builds bridges.”
“You must first build bridges between God and each person, and then build bridges that unite people of all ethnicities, backgrounds, social positions and political ideas,” Archbishop Filipazzi who presided over the Episcopal Ordination said.
He emphasized the need for the new Bishop’s work for unity, imploring, “May your ministry always serve unity and peace within and outside the Church.”
“The Bishop does not gather the people around his person or his ideas but around Christ present in his Word and in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood,” the Italian-born Archbishop who started his diplomatic role of representing the Holy Father following his appointment in March 2011 to Indonesia said.
He further said, “The Bishop, conformed to Christ, becomes a living Gospel; he becomes bread broken for the life of many by his preaching and his witness.”
“The new Bishop will have to counteract those factors, which tend to disrupt the unity of the Church and social harmony, especially that mentality which makes one’s ethnic group and place the first and fundamental criterion of thought and action, even to the point of violating God’s law and the life and dignity of other human beings,” Archbishop Filipazzi said.