Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) General Secretary Fr. Cleophas Lungu says the Catholic Church is pleased by the good will gesture of government to revoke the deportation order of Rwandese Catholic priest Viateur Banyangandora.
“We are happy with this good news. We have been praying and hoping that Government reconsiders the deportation of the man of God,” Fr Lungu said.
He said the Catholic Church had made its mandate clear that it would never participate in partisan politics but continue advocating for good governance.
Fr Lungu said Catholic Priests worldwide had a God given mandate to speak the truth about the ills in society regardless of who was perpetuating them.
“Sometimes as clergy we preach to people who are affected, so when you point out a wrong whether perpetuated by a politician or an ordinary member of society it should not be misconstrued to mean that we are engaging in partisan politics,” Fr Lungu said.
And Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) Secretary- General Suzanne Matale has warned that the Church would not shun from commenting on matters of governance as the church was directly affected by Government actions.
“We preach to beings that are affected by politics. Their concerns are our concerns therefore we cannot shun from talking about them,” Matale said.
She urged the government not to stray from its promises of restoring people’s dignity adding that the church would never abrogate its responsibility to the people.