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Bishop of the Wa Catholic Diocese, Most Reverend Francis Bomansaan, has asserted that the proximity of the calendar for Lent and Ramadan offers Muslims and Christians the opportunity to walk side by side in a common process of purification, prayer and charity aimed at worshiping God with clean hearts and pure intentions, and serve the neighbours with unconditional love.
Muslims in the country started the annual fasting of Ramadan on March 1, 2025 and ended on March 30, 2025, whilst their Catholic counterparts started their Lenten season on March 5, 2025.
This was contained in a goodwill message by Most reverend Francis Bomansaan to the Upper West regional Minister and Imams of various Muslim denominations and some selected opinion Muslim leaders in the region.
He stated that the Holy Father, Pope Francis, has declared 2025 a Jubilee Year under the theme, ‘‘pilgrimage of hope”. He said he chose the theme because he wants to emphasise the importance of finding hope in God’s words and carrying that hope to the world.
"Pope Francis encourages Christians to be a tangible source of hope for those experiencing hardships caused by wars, famine and drought".
Reechoing the message from the dicastery for inter-religious dialogue to Muslims for the month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, he posited that Muslims and Christians can bear witness to this hope in a world marked by injustice, conflict and uncertainty about the future.
“Our sincere thirst for fraternity and genuine dialogue is frequently hindered by the temptation to build a culture of walls in our hearts and social relationships”, he added.
The Catholic Bishop recalled his cordial encounters with various Islamic leaders in the municipality, where they promised to sustain and promote Christian-Muslim dialogue in the region and to collaborate to bring peace and development to the region.
“We need to ask ourselves the best ways of bringing hope to those who are disheartened, especially the poor widows, exploited single mothers and vulnerable young girls and those who have dropped out of school due to financial constraints. We could never estimate the ray of hope we bring to the disadvantaged youth with vocational training opportunities.”
Most Reverend Francis Bomansaan therefore used the opportunity to appeal to Muslims and Christian charity agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations to support widows and single mothers with small-scale micro financing and to open up centers of craftsmanship to vocational skills training for the girls and boys who cannot afford formal education.
He also appealed to Muslims and Christians to come together in each community to create centers for training in vocational skills.
"In this Jubilee Year, let’s give hope to our poor women and girls, he further appealed.
He commended the Upper West Regional Chief Imam, Alhaji Mahama Osman Kanihi, for the establishment of the educational endowment fund meant to give quality education to brilliant but needy students for both Muslims and non-Muslims. He noted that the initiative is worth emulating.
He concluded with the Vatican message for the month of Ramadan.
"It is my fervent hope and prayer that this feast may be an occasion for fraternal encounters between Muslims and Christians, in which we can celebrate together God’s goodness. Such simple but profound moments of sharing are seeds of hope that transform our communities and our world. May our friendship be a refreshing breeze for a world that thirsts for peace and fraternity.

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