Libermann e a evangelização na Costa Ocidental Africana

: uma visão propedêutica ao Papa Francisco

Abstract

Christianity only arrived in West Africa in the 15th century, but it is known that it was not its first contact with the continent, as its roots are in Africa. After having traveled to Europe, he will arrive on the Coast in the caravels of the colonizers, who had the mission of converting the "pagans" and imposing the faith. The first wave of evangelization was unsuccessful because of failures of the method. It was only at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century that evangelization began to be felt through the missionaries sent by the missionary congregations founded at that time. Libermann's congregation stands out for its proximity to blacks, in the struggle for the liberation of slaves and in the integration of the freedmen. Black people were the wretches of their time. Today Pope Francis asks the Church for a new way out, to go to the peripheries and to bring the poor and excluded to the center. His reform plan, expressed above all in Evangelii Gaudium, is very common with what Libermann has proposed to his missionaries, and challenges the churches of the West African Coast to draw up their own plan of action.

Date of Award	15 Oct 2021
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Luís M. Figueiredo Rodrigues (Supervisor)