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Plenary Of Episcopal Conferences Of Africa, Madagascar
VATICAN CITY, 28 JUL 2010 (VIS)

The plenary assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) will be held in Accra, Ghana, from 27 July to 1 August. The event is due to be attended by 250 people including cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful from Africa and other parts of the world.

SECAM, the president of which is Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, archbishop of Dal-es-Salaam, Tanzania, is celebrating its fortieth year of activity with a week of reflection on the theme: "Self-Reliance and the Way Forward for the Church in Africa". Within the context of plenary assembly, Archbishop Leon Kalenga Badikebele, apostolic nuncio to Ghana, will deliver a Message from Benedict XVI to the participants.

The plenary assembly, the highest administrative body in SECAM, meets every three years. This year's agenda includes a meeting of bishops on the central theme of the plenary and a round table discussion, as well as a renewal of their joint commitment to achieve the ideals of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar.

The national and regional episcopal conferences of Africa and other bodies affiliated to SECAM will present their evaluations on the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, which was held in the Vatican last October on the theme: "The Church in Africa, at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace".