Benguela, 18 June, 2024 / 4:42 pm (ACI Africa).
Bishop António Francisco Jaca of the Catholic Diocese of Benguela in Angola has called on the government of the Southern African nation to support the activities of the Church by providing spaces where churches and other infrastructures can be developed.
In his homily during his pastoral visit to St. Paul Bela Vista Parish of his Episcopal See, Bishop Jaca decried persecutions and condemned the erection of obstacles that hinder the growth of the Church in the world and in his Diocese.
“We have difficulties here in Angola even to have a space or land to build a church, as if Christians didn't have the right to pray,” the Angolan Catholic Bishop said during the June 16 pastoral visit.
He added, “This is the time to remind those who govern, who administer the territory, that Christians are also citizens; they have rights like all other citizens and one of those rights is to profess and live their faith and for that they need spaces to be able to pray.”
“Sometimes we forget that a church is a public good and that those who want can have access to it, because it is a right; and if it is a right it is the duty of the State to give the spaces, land for building churches,” Bishop Jaca said.
