Pengo calls for love, unity and solidarity among Tanzanians

Dar es Salaam. The Archbishop of Dar es Salaam Polycarp Cardinal Pengo yesterday celebrated 30 years since he was consecrated bishop and insisted on love, unity and solidarity among Tanzanians of all faiths.

Speaking during the thanksgiving Mass held in Dar es Salaam, Cardinal Pengo said it is because of the grace of God and immense love from people around him that he managed to serve the Catholic Church for such a long time.

“When God called me to be a bishop I agreed, and today I say when He calls you, listen; for He will make what He wants you to do, this call is not only in religion, it is for humanity,” he said.

Cardinal Pengo who was born in 1944, was ordained priest in 1971 and consecrated a Bishop of Nachingwea in 1983 and later Tunduru and Masasi in 1986, and in 1998 he was proclaimed a cardinal.

For his part, Bishop Telesphory Mkude of Morogoro Diocese, urged Tanzanians to regard themselves as equal human beings regardless of their status.

He said the ongoing conflicts and apparent moral decay in the society was a result of some people feeling themselves superior to others.

“We have people in the society who think that what they do is right, even some political parties that think their ideology is better than others’, if we keep this way we won’t have peace and harmony as individuals and as a country, we have to do what God wants us to do,” he said.

Insisting on unity, the Vatican ambassador to Tanzania, Archbishop Francisco Montecillo Padilla, said that to build a strong leadership, members of the Catholic Church should continue supporting one another.

“We should pray for his (Cardinal Pengo) good health but we should give him our full support to make his work much easier, let us take his leadership as an inspiration to everyone of us,” said Archbishop Padilla.