Date of Award
12-2025
Document Type
Thesis - SCU Access Only
Publisher
Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2025
Degree Name
Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL)
Director
Léocadie LUSHOMBO WABO
Abstract
Generation Z (born in 2000 and after) has emerged globally as a powerful force challenging corruption, inequality, environmental crises, and government mismanagement. In countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Morocco, and Paraguay, youth-led, digitally organized, and often leaderless protests have exposed systemic injustice and demanded accountability, with symbols like the “One Piece” pirate flag uniting participants across borders.
In Mozambique, a Generation Z-led movement—fueled by politician and former evangelical pastor Venancio Bila Modlane—has risen after five decades of authoritarian rule by the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) since 1975, confronting false state narratives and asserting human dignity, justice, and the common good. The regime has responded with brutal repression—including persecution, kidnappings, and assassinations—while mass graves following the fraudulent October 2024 general elections mark the peak of state violence, just as in Tanzania, post-October 2025 elections, state violence targeted citizens protesting for electoral justice.
This thesis examines the Church’s role amid Mozambique’s crises, arguing that these struggles are not only political and economic but also theological and anthropological. The Church has often functioned as a “Chaplain Church,” accommodating the status quo rather than courageously empowering its people to stand for justice, human dignity, and the common good in accordance with its Kingdom-oriented telos. The thesis contends that the Church must become what it is ii called to be—a living sacrament of God’s Kingdom—by acting according to a telos that transcends and critiques the moral logic of the nation-state whenever it fails to uphold these values. In doing so, she must reclaim her Gospel-centered moral identity, embodying hope, justice, and authentic liberation.
Recommended Citation
Ngozo, Bendito Cornelio Evressone, "Reimagining the Role of the Church in Mozambique as a Midwife and Mother for Human Dignity, Justice and Common Good" (2025). Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations. 174.
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/jst_dissertations/174
