Ndola, 12 August, 2022 / 8:40 pm (ACI Africa).
The Bishop of Zambia’s Catholic Diocese of Ndola has directed members of the Clergy in his Episcopal See to refrain from allowing politicians to address worshippers in the premises of the church.
In a statement shared with ACI Africa Wednesday, August 10, Bishop Benjamin Phiri has said that politicians addressing members of the congregation “in the name of greeting them during Mass … is not permitted at all.”
“Whenever the politicians visit our churches, they should be treated like any other ordinary Christian coming to worship,” Bishop Phiri has said.
At no time should politicians “be accorded a chance to speak to the gathered faithful during Mass at the pulpit nor should they be given an audience outside Mass to speak to the parishioners within the parish premises,” the Zambian Catholic Bishop directs in his statement dated August 8.
He emphasizes the need for church premises to be maintained as places of “worship and reverence of our Creator” by keeping off “whatever political pronouncements our brothers and sisters from the political sphere wish to make known to the public.”
