Advertisement

Catholic Bishop in Angola Cautions against Corruption “game”, Urges Honest Living

Bishop Martín Lasarte Topolansky of Angola’s Lwena Diocese. Credit: Radio Ecclesia

Bishop Martín Lasarte Topolansky of Angola’s Lwena Diocese has cautioned against the “game” of corruption. 

In his homily at Our Lady of Assumption Cathedral of Lwena Diocese, Bishop Lasarte advocated for honesty.

He faulted Angolans whose work, he said, “starts with corruption, embezzlement” and that as civil servants, “get into that game.”

“You're a civil servant, you don't work, one year, two years, three four years, you don't work and you get paid,” the Uruguayan-born member of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), who started his Episcopal Ministry last September following his 1 July 2023 appointment lamented. 

He continued, “Here in Lwena there are many people like that who live off other people's non-existent salaries, and other poor people have to get by as best they can.”

Advertisement

“A Catholic cannot play this game; he has to live honestly from his work, not from dishonesty,” the Catholic Church leader said, and underscored the need for Christians to be “authentic witnesses of God's love in their communities.’

“You must have the courage to face certain things. Often many Catholics are too weak; they don't want to assert themselves as Christians,” Bishop Lasarte said.

He called upon Catholics to have “strong faith like Our Lady, like the apostles, the first disciples, who received the faith and began this great adventure of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth.”

João Vissesse is an Angolan Journalist with a passion and rich experience in Catholic Church Communication and Media Apostolate.