Tue, 20 Jun 2017 11:42:29 +0000
By OSCAR MALIPENGA
ARCHBISHOP Telesphore Mpundu’s statement that zambia was sliding into a dictatorship is not reflective of the entire Catholic Church as it was not done in consultation with us, Chipata Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Benjamin Phiri has said.
And Bishop Phiri has charged that a previous letter which was issued by Archbishop Mpundu was done without consultation from other Catholic bishops.
The Chipata auxiliary bishop is the second after Bishop Banda of Ndola diocese to distance himself from the statement issued by Archbishop Mpundu who declared Zambia as being under dictatorship.
According to a voice recording which has gone viral, Bishop Phiri said it was not appropriate to have a statement circulating as having been issued by the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) when the membership was not consulted.
“Whatever was said and is inappropriate does not represent the official position of the Catholic Church in Zambia,” he said.
He noted that the church’s official position was to play a mother’s role to all.
The auxiliary bishop said that the Catholic Church could not take sides of political parties as its membership was very diverse.
“Whatever was said there we were not consulted…what is supposed to happen is that we are supposed to go to Lusaka, sit down if we want to issue a particular statement,” Bishop Phiri said.“That is the view of the one who issued the statement, not the official position of the church; so I want this to be very clear.”
Bishop Phiri alleged that there were few people with a private agenda using the church’s name. “That is not a position of the bishops, it was the position of an individual who issued the statement in the name of the institution or organisation. But it is not the correct position.” He observed that it was for the same reason that the dioceses across the country had not been reading the pastoral letter that was issued. Bishop Phiri emphasised that the Catholic Church was non-partisan and would continue to work with the government of the day.
