In her speech, the First Lady of the Republic explained how "the idea came about to promote the initiative of transferring the ecumenical service of 18 September 2022, in Catete, to a book".
Ana Dias Lourenço, at the time they were at a cult and the words shared there left her "very touched", having remembered to write a book.
"We were at a service entitled 'Angolans in Christ holding hands for the future'. And that day, we had the opportunity to hear words from the Lord's servants that not only portrayed the words of the Holy Bible, but also managed to portray the legacy of our beloved President, Agostinho Neto. I was very touched and so I thought of the idea of writing a book. I challenged my husband, while still in Catete", she said, quoted in a government statement, to which VerAngola had access.
And so came the religious book, which was named "Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service", in reference to Neto's centenary.
According to the First Lady of the Republic, the work "conveys a message of hope for the future, filled with patriotic, Christian feelings, faith, education and ethics, especially for the youngest".
On the occasion, Ana Dias Lourenço thanked everyone involved in the project, and also asked readers to recommend the book to other Angolans.
"The work, which represents part of the life and work of Agostinho Neto, was written by leaders of Angolan Christian churches, and was presented by sociologist Fátima Viegas", the statement said.
The sociologist considered that the book is not "just a testimony of faith, but a tribute to the life and struggle of a man who dedicated his life to the freedom and dignity of the Angolan people".
Thus, she explained that in the texts it is possible to "highlight two major guiding lines for the nation", one of which is directed towards the past and the other towards the future: "In the texts we can highlight two major guiding lines for the Angolan nation. One focused on the past, in the heroic sense of the memory of Neto's life and work, and the other directed towards the near future, an orientation that takes us back to the mysticism of always: the Sacred Hope", she said, quoted in the statement.
Organised by the Inter-Ecclesial Commission, the ceremony was witnessed by Agostinho Neto's widow, Maria Eugénia Neto, by Filipe Zau, Minister of Culture, by Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Luanda, as well as by Bishop Gaspar Domingos (United Methodist Church), Alexandre Saúl, Secretary General of the Evangelical Alliance of Angola, by Reverend Vladimir Agostinho, Secretary General of the Council of Christian Churches in Angola, among others.
