Africa: the living gold of the Church — and now you come to us!”

A silent but powerful revolution is taking place in the heart of the Catholic Church, a turning point that brings with it the scent of the red African earth, of faith lived with body and soul, of the spirit that does not give up. The recent appointments in the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, desired by Pope Leo XIV, confirm a line that is not only administrative or functional, but profoundly prophetic. Africa, which for centuries has been considered a land of mission and need, is today indicated as a living source, as a new spiritual wealth, as a burning fire that can warm a European Church that is tired, dull, wounded by vocational deserts and by the weariness of the heart. Pope Francis, in his years of pontificate, has often looked at Africa with eyes full of gratitude and hope, sensing that where faith is young and full of energy, a strength is kept that cannot be ignored. The choice of figures linked to the African, missionary and consecrated experience, such as Sister Tiziana Merletti at the head of the Dicastery, is a symbolic but also practical gesture: it marks a path that does not go back, but advances towards a synodal Church, where all cultures meet and enrich each other. Africa, today, is no longer just the recipient of the Gospel, but has become a protagonist, capable of evangelizing in turn, bringing an incarnate faith, sung, lived with passion and rooted in pain and hope. It is in the parishes of Ghana, in the villages of Malawi, in the seminaries of Congo that the Gospel takes flesh in surprising ways, with priests who live in poverty but with a luminous dignity, with consecrated women who cross the savannah to visit the sick, with young people who discover in the Word of God a freedom deeper than the promises of the world. And now something miraculous is happening: those sons and daughters of Africa, who received the faith from European missionaries, are now returning to walk the streets of Europe, called by dioceses that can no longer support the weight of pastoral care alone, of parishes without pastors, of bell towers that ring but no one answers. African priests are coming to Italy, France, Germany, not to make up the numbers but to bring life, smiles, prayer, the ability to relate, a spirit of sacrifice, and trust in the future. They, who learned the Gospel from white and wrinkled hands, now give it back with a young voice, with dark skin that does not divide but unites, with different accents but with the same love for the Eucharist and for the people of God. It is a mutual gift, a cycle that is fulfilled, an embrace between continents, an act of evangelical justice. Those who gave now receive, and those who receive do so with gratitude, because they have understood that without this new lifeblood the Church risks dying of self-referentiality. African vocations are not only numerous, they are also solid,forged in hardship, in the lack of means, in authentic prayer, in shared responsibility. This is why more and more dioceses look at those seminarians with eyes full of hope and at their communities with profound respect. It is a paradigm shift that asks humility from Europe and audacity from Africa, but which can become the most fruitful turning point of our time. Instead of closing parishes, let us open hearts and borders. Instead of complaining about the lack of vocations, let us cultivate those that arrive, welcoming them as seeds fallen from another season yet capable of sprouting here, now, in the folds of our cities. The Pope has shown us the way, with gestures and names that speak clearly: the Curia opens, the consecrated world becomes international, Africa becomes the cornerstone and guide of a new way of being Church. It is up to us not to miss this train of the Spirit. It is up to the European bishops to recognize the value of those who knock, not to conquer but to serve. It is up to the communities to welcome these priests not as strangers, but as brothers, as sons of the same baptismal promise, as evangelizers called to give oxygen to a tired faith. And if the heart of the mission has always been to leave, today the challenge is also to know how to receive. From Africa comes not only a new generation of pastors, but a different way of being Church: more community-based, more joyful, more connected to daily life. It is time to throw open the doors. It is time to say thank you. It is time to start again from where the Gospel has put down deep roots. And now, truly, you come to us. And we, finally, are ready to welcome you.From Africa comes not only a new generation of pastors, but a different way of being Church: more community-based, more joyful, more connected to daily life. It is time to throw open the doors. It is time to say thank you. It is time to start again from where the Gospel has put down deep roots. And now, truly, you come to us. And we, finally, are ready to welcome you.From Africa comes not only a new generation of pastors, but a different way of being Church: more community-based, more joyful, more connected to daily life. It is time to throw open the doors. It is time to say thank you. It is time to start again from where the Gospel has put down deep roots. And now, truly, you come to us. And we, finally, are ready to welcome you.

Marco Baratto