Unauthorised “Catholic” Online Forums in Tanzanian Diocese Misleading Youths, Bishop Seeks Oversight Measures

Nairobi, 28 November, 2025 / 6:19 PM

Bishop Bernadine Francis Mfumbusa of Tanzania’s Catholic Diocese of Kondoa has raised concern over the growing number of unauthorised websites and blogs bearing the name “Catholic,” noting that some publish content contrary to the Catholic faith, which is misleading young people.

In an interview with ACI Africa, Bishop Mfumbusa, reflecting on the challenges facing his Episcopal See, noted that some of the online forums are operated by non-Catholics whose primary aim is economic through clickbait and sensationalism and not faith promotion.

“The problem, which is probably bigger, is that we have a lot of Catholic blogs and websites,” he said during the Wednesday, November 26, interview on the sidelines of the meeting that brought together Directors of Catholic-owned television and radio stations in Africa and communication Coordinators of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) at the Mariapolis Piero Centre in Kenya’s Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN).

The Local Ordinary of Kondoa Diocese, who doubles as the President of the Pan African Episcopal Committee for Social Communications (CEPACS) questioned the justification for the mushrooming online forums, saying, “We don't have an authority which gives imprimatur to say this is Catholic.”

He went on to lament, “Sometimes we have people who are not Christians at all; they are atheists, but they use the term Catholic for marketing purposes.”

“Young people access websites where the things they've been taught are not even Catholic, but they believe it's Catholic because it's written,” Bishop Mfumbusa said, and added, “We need to come up with mechanisms to try to guide our young people toward the right websites.”

In the November 26 interview, the Local Ordinary of Kondoa since his Episcopal Consecration in May 2011 also highlighted other challenges he grapples with in his Episcopal See.

“The Diocese of Kondwa is quite small in terms of population, but the nature of demography is also very challenging, because most people are not Christians, so they're not Catholics,” he said.

Statistically, Bishop Mfumbusa noted, the Tanzanian Diocese has 18 parishes, served by 22 Diocesan Priests, some of them sickly, some others elderly, and others pursuing further studies. 

“We have very few Priests in the field, and this is one of the biggest challenges we are facing right now,” the official of CEPACS, an entity of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), told ACI Africa.

He expressed optimism into the future, saying that the Diocese that has a population of about 74,000 Catholics has 22 Major Seminarians, of whom some are studying in Zimbabwe, some others Uganda, and in Kenya.

“We are trying to make sure that, probably in the next 10 years, we should have enough Priests and even allow others to work as donors in other places where they have more problems, like ours,” Bishop Mfumbusa said.

The Tanzanian Catholic Bishop lamented the scarcity of modern communication tools across parishes in Kondoa Diocese, warning that digital technology is evolving far faster than the Church’s laws, regulations, and ethical guidelines can keep pace – a situation he considers worrisome.

He further observed that a number of Priests lack the skills and confidence to use digital platforms, a challenge that undermines their efforts to minister to young people who are already tech-savvy and often better versed in digital communication than their pastors.

“We have this problem where younger people probably are more knowledgeable about the Bible than Priests who have been to school, because actually, they interact with the Bible through Bible readings online,” he said.

Bishop Mfumbusa continued, “We need the tools which these young people use so that we can understand where they are and we can prepare ourselves to teach them better.”

“We are planning to give regular workshops and update kinds of programs, which will help Priests now to thrive in their pastoral environment, and particularly, maybe, to the young people who are more digital these days than they were a couple of years ago,” he told ACI Africa during the November 26 interview.