AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND THE REPUBLIC OF CHAD ON THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

VATICAN, Holy See, November 7, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- On Wednesday 6 November in the seat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Yamena, the capital of Chad, an agreement was signed between the Holy See and the Republic of Chad regarding the legal status of the Catholic Church in Chad.

It was signed on behalf of the Holy See by Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, apostolic nuncio in Chad, and for the Republic of Chad by Moussa Faki Mahamat, minister of Foreign Affairs and African Integration.

The agreement, which consists of eighteen articles, will enter into force upon exchange of the instruments of ratification; it recognises the legal personality of the Catholic Church and the ecclesiastical institutions and, establishing a legal framework for the relations between the Church and the State, affirms the social value of their collaboration for the promotion of the dignity of the human person in order to build a more just and peaceful society.