VATICAN - 15 October 2008 - We republish here comments of some African bishops at the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God at the Vatican:

Bishop Louis Portella Mbuyu of Congo-Brazzaville: "There is the urgent need to help and stimulate the faithful of Christ in the Congo to read the Word of God, to meditate on it, to pray it in as much as it can recreate African man who still carries within the consequences of the past.

Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana: "The truth of scriptures is ultimately the truth of a person, Jesus. This truth is both accessible and inaccessible to people. Its access requires faith. The search for the meaning and the truth of scriptures cannot be limited to the sign of the word and letter of scriptures."

Bishop Joseph Aké of Ivory Coast: "In my humble opinion, this is the finality of our studies, our discussions, our sharing: to lead our faithful and those who will allow themselves to be touched by our preaching to personally and uniquely experience the encounter with Jesus. They should reach this: 'I believe not because I listened to the homily of this bishop, of this charismatic priest, but because I myself met Jesus.'

Bishop Fulgence Muteba Mugalu of DR. Congo: "I recommend the good use of social communications of the Word of God. I'd like to insist on the fact that, in order to reach today's men and women better, the proclamation of the Word of God should be composed of finding an equilibrium with the media culture.

"This means accepting Inter mirifica (Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Media of Social Communications) and writing a new page in communications, in relationship with the nature of the Word to be proclaimed and is respectful both of the dignity and the freedom of those who are listening."

Bishop Patrick Daniel Koroma of Sierra Leone: "The Bible is the principal means by which we seek God's direction in the diverse circumstances of our lives, the determining guide for our lives, what God is asking of us and what God is calling us to be."