Day I had a chat with the Pope

Eddah Nabwire

Eddah Nabwire when she visited the Nation Centre on November 19,2022.

Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • How Nabwire, a third-year philosophy student at the Consolata Institute of Philosophy in Lang’ata, earned the honour of being the one to ask the Pope Kenya’s question during the Catholic feast.

For nine university students from across Africa, All Saints Day 2022, was one to remember — a day they directly addressed Pope Francis, albeit online.

A Catholic feast that is celebrated worldwide every November 1 by 1.3 billion Catholics, 9.7 million of them in Kenya (2019 census), the day had over 3,000 students listen as the Pope fielded questions through their representatives on matters of concern to their countries.

Catholic Sister Leonida Katunge, who ministers as a theologian, headed Kenya’s steering committee as part of the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (Pactpan), under whose umbrella the event took place.

Nigerian priest, Fr Stan Chu Ilo, also a theologian from Nigeria practising in the United States of America was Pactpan’s overall coordinator while Fr Emmanuel Bueya from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — an associate professor at Hekima University College, Nairobi — was the director.

Earlier in July, Pactpan hosted the Second Pan-African Catholic Congress on Theology, Society and Pastoral Life, which was attended by African Catholic academics and frontline pastoral workers.

The meeting coincided with the church’s Synod of Synodality in which the Church is calling its faithful to communion, participation and mission as they journey together as one family of God.

Through phone calls, WhatsApp and email, Lifestyle interviewed some of the students, a majority of them from Kenya. Four of them — Ms Eddah Nabwire from Kenya, Mr Devis Ampereza (Uganda), Mr Augustine Osemeke Chidera (Nigeria) and Mr Akakpo Selom Ghislain (Côte d’Ivoire) were chosen by their cohorts — groups of 15 to 40 from the participating countries — to ask the Pope one question.

So, how could a single question capture the concerns of an entire country, and how did Ms Nabwire earn the honour of being the one to ask the Pope Kenya’s question?

As the only woman in a class of 60 until six nuns joined her, Nabwire thinks being picked to address Pope Francis came from a combination of factors. They included considerations of gender balance, a mix of religious and lay people and not least a grasp of issues.

Nabwire, a third-year philosophy student at the Consolata Institute of Philosophy in Lang’ata, Nairobi, told Lifestyle: “We had our cohort meetings where we would make contributions to our theme, which was on governance and inclusion. While holding discussions and developing the theme, one person [would] be chosen to represent us and that person was me.”

With an accounts and administration background, Nabwire, who at some point decided that was not her calling — “I felt overwhelmed by the things that were happening in the society” — decided to ditch her ‘first love’ for a career involving counselling the young and children. To do this, she thought she needed a faith-based course like theology, but was told she needed to study philosophy before embarking on theology.

Pursuing philosophy prepared her to ask the right questions and present in the right way during preliminary cohort meetings, resulting in her being chosen to address the Pope, although the question she asked was arrived at as a group.

Kenyans, like the other participants, had many questions but could only ask one due to time constraints considering the Pope’s age — he is 85 — and is recovering from a knee ailment that saw him cancel a July 2-7 trip to the DRC and South Sudan.

The Kenyan team felt the youth suffered through ‘deliberate exclusion’ from unemployment and lack of structures to facilitate their participation in governance. Their universities also don’t prepare them for future roles in society.

A bishop at the preparatory forum, Nabwire said, explained that it was not that the youth are being excluded, it’s just that they lack the right formation for leadership. And yet, they needed to be included as they have the energy, the drive and the force for change, she said.

Eddah Nabwire

Eddah Nabwire (bottom) during a chat with Pope Francis (top left) on November 1, 2022.

Photo credit: Pool

The budding philosopher reflects on her unique encounter with the Pope. It was “a good opportunity not just to be seen, but also to think about my responsibility as cohort leader. I may have presented (the question) but how am I living my life? How am I impacting (fellow youth)? How am I living this theme (of governance)? How do I assist youth to be able to take on governance roles? It was an opportunity that I loved to have but it also served as a challenge. How was I to (handle) the project? How was I to lead other youth in the conversation so that they are able to recognise their strengths? The future is looking at them to be able to stand out and be counted as leaders,” Nabwire said.

The youth situation, Nabwire noted, was marked by “minimal inclusion, representation and participation in governance” with “little to no empowerment in decision making concerning their future.”

The youth sought Pope Francis’s guidance on how to be involved in their countries’ political life while embracing “Christian values and social justice”, beyond mere voting every five years. They sought active inclusion in Kenya’s governance to be able to ask questions on issues affecting them.

Kenya’s concern was also about politicians’ use of young people “to propagate violence and intimidate opponents.

The youth, who included seminarian Mr Austin Oduor — a cohort leader from the Gaba Campus of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Eldoret — also sought answers on social issues ranging from poverty, feelings of hopelessness, suppression of movement, and the erosion of African cultural values, whose origins they blamed on bad governance.

What were the other young people’s impressions, seeing the Pope (albeit online) listening to their questions and answering them?

“I was excited… I’m still excited. I heard the Holy Father’s voice! Knowing he was live made me smile. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to speak to the Holy Father but here (I was) as the representative of Nigeria,” Osemeke says.

Uganda’s Devis Ampereza is equally awestruck: “I was humbled by the Pope’s decision (to address our concerns) and I was very happy to speak to him.”

Côte d’Ivoire’s Ghislain told Lifestyle he is equally fascinated by the encounter “even though it was not face-to-face… I was impressed by his availability despite all his various duties. It tells me that youth are important in the Pope’s mission and vision for the Church,” he says.

While all participants interviewed express awe at their encounter with the Holy Father, they explained that the choice of question to ask was arrived at at an online meeting involving all of them.

It was clear at the July 18-23 meeting that the challenges facing youth in Africa are similar, hence representatives sought the Pope’s guidance on the most pressing issues in their respective countries.

The Pope’s response was terse, to the point and demanding of the youth to take charge. Youth exclusion in growth and development “is the death of a country”, he told his young listeners hence they should not be too cautious as to fail to move.

“As much as we need to be cautious, we also need to have the confidence to start things,” Nabwire interpreted the Pope’s response to Kenyans.

Seemingly throwing the ball back to them, the Pope advised the youth to know their values “so as not to be exploited”, aware of their role as ‘societal models’. If we don’t struggle, no one will do so and so we should take up the initiative to impact our lives.”

Uganda asked an immigration question. This year, Ampereza noted, the country hosted over 1.5 million refugees from DRC, South Sudan, and Burundi, among others. Young men and women were also migrating to the Middle East, which comes with challenges.

The Pope’s Fratelli Tutti encyclical, which addresses Ubuntu (humanness) seeks to make Africa “a home of social friendship”.

Therefore, Ampereza asked: “How can we realise our dream of ending war, hunger, poverty and the semi-permanence of refugees and displacement of so many young people in the Motherland?”

The Pope advised Ugandan youth to fight against such challenges “because that’s how we will succeed”.

He noted that if the global arms sale could stop for just one year, the challenge of hunger would be eliminated. “He also advised us to continue with the struggle, keep focused and never give up,” Ampereza said.

Famed to be the richest in biodiversity in West Africa — 1,200 animal species and 1,700 plant species — Ghislain asked the Pope how Côte d’Ivoire youth could fend off exploitation of this wealth by the global North.

Youth, he said, “plant trees and avoid use of wood for cooking but the reality of ecology is much wider than what we’re doing. We’re not sure our actions will change something.” The Pope advised them to give their best for a common goal.

Insecurity, fundamentalism, bribery and corruption are Nigeria’s bane and Chidera asked the Pope to tell them how to live amid such vices. The Pope encouraged them to be on the lookout in the war against such vices.

Finally, Pope Francis, who was addressing the youth in the context of the Synod of Synodality, which started in October 2021 and ends in October 2023, blessed the participants saying: “I’m very glad to have had this meeting with you. I was very impressed with all your remarks.”

The Synod of Synodality seeks Church ‘renewal’ and was proposed way back at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) by Pope John XXIII, who chaired it until he died the following year to be succeeded by Pope Paul VI. It seeks views not just from the youth but also from men, women, children, and the ‘vital church’ for integration in his report — the most inclusive in the Catholic Church’s history.