“Show children love”: Catholic Bishop in Angola to Parents amid Surge in Juvenile Crimes

He said, “Those who don't have can't give, those who haven't received can't give. If they haven't experienced the love of their parents, the affection of their parents, the care of their parents, the attention of their parents, they can't give to others.”

“If we do studies of all these delinquents, we will find that their parents are also problematic,” the Local Ordinary of Caxito said.

The Angolan member of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CSSp) however, clarified that poverty also has an influence on crimes among minors.

 “Certainly poverty also often leads to attitudes that are contrary to the Gospel, but it's because many parents are also problematic, they haven't looked after these children well,” the Local Ordinary of Caxito said.

He continued, “They haven't passed on love and affection to their children, so they don't respect life.”

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“They easily take someone's life, they easily kill, they easily rob, to support their addictions and often because their parents are also delinquents, they only teach their children bad behavior, bad attitudes and bad ways,” Bishop Camuto lamented.

He added, “When your father is violent at home, doesn't respect his children or his wife, he's teaching his children the wrong way.”

Bishop Camuto said it is the mission of every Christian to “awaken their neighbor to all bad actions, to convert them to God, and so they must not go along with evil.”

“Words alone are not enough, you need an example, you need a witness, you need to show others that I am no longer in this place, in this evil, in this place of sin, of death, I am no longer there,” the Angolan Bishop said.

“Our mission is to get these brothers and sisters out of this life, so that they can come to a life of grace, so that they can come to a life of love with one another, to a life of goodness, which is what God wants for us,” he said.