The peace process in Rome 1989-92 and the role of the Catholic lay movement
Community of Sant’ Egidio
Community of Sant’ Egidio – A Catholic lay movement
The Community of Sant’ Egidio was founded in 1968 by a group of Roman high
school students, taking its name from its original meeting place, the former
Carmelite cloister of Sant’ Egidio in Rome. Inspired by the 2nd Vatican
Council, its central concerns are: prayer, the spread of the Gospel, ecumenical
and inter-religious dialogue, and aid to the poor (first in Rome, then world
wide).
In the 1980’s, it became engaged in political peace-making
as the basis for effective humanitarian aid. Sant’ Egidio has exercised a peace-making
role in Lebanon (1982) and in Algeria (1989) and elsewhere. Active in some 70
countries around the world, the movement numbers over 50,000 members and maintains
a worldwide network of contact persons.
The Community of Sant’ Egidio began humanitarian work in Mozambique in
1984. In the peace negotiations beginning in 1989, members of the community helped
the parties to reach agreement by exercising patience, sensitivity, and respect.
Chronology
1498: Mozambique was discovered by the Portuguese navigator
Vasco da Gama on the way to India.
Since 1793: Portuguese colony.
1962: The liberation front FRELIMO (Frente Libertaç?o de Moçambique)
took form.
1974: The Portuguese dictator Caetano was overthrown.
25 June 1975: Mozambique achieved independence. The FRELIMO took over and established
a communist one-party state.
1975–1992: Civil war raged between the ruling FRELIMO and the armed resistance
movement RENAMO (Resistencia Nacional de Moçambique).
1984: The Catholic lay movement, the Community of Sant’ Egidio, undertook
humanitarian aid in Mozambique, winning the trust of the populace and of both
conflicting parties.
1985: Talks between the FRELIMO government and Sant’ Egidio regularized
the relationship between the state and the Catholic Church. Property was returned
to the Church.
1986: President Machel died in an airplane crash. The new President Chissano
responded to the change of course in the Soviet Union under Gorbachev: moving
away from the communist ideology, opening to the West, carrying out domestic
political reforms, improving relations to the churches.
1988: Thanks to contacts mediated by Sant’ Egidio, Archbishop Gonçalves
met with the RENAMO leader Dhlakama. Shuttle diplomacy on the part of church
representatives built up trust between the rival political forces.
1990: Apartheid came to an end in South Africa.
1989–1992: Peace negotiations were held in Rome, leading to the so-called “Formula
of Rome”. This represented a new form of conflict resolution with the aid
of representatives of government and of non-government organizations.
4 October 1992: FRELIMO and the RENAMO signed a peace treaty.
October 1994: Free and fair elections were held in Mozambique. The election victory
of the FRELIMO was accepted by the RENAMO.
