Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Internet
Saurimo (Agenzia Fides) – “They are destroying communities, dividing families, and hindering development,” said José Manuel Imbamba, Archbishop of Saurimo, speaking to a group of journalists at the end of a pastoral visit to the parishes of Our Lady of Fatima in Muconda and Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus in Dala.He was referring to the strong influence and impact that “diviners, fortune tellers, and clairvoyants” have on the population. The Archbishop has called for the criminalization of diviners in Angola. “We found people whose honor and dignity have been destroyed. I ask the authorities and jurists of this country to urgently criminalize diviners in our land,” he stated.The Archbishop lamented that the diviners “are destroying communities, dividing and impoverishing families, killing development. For me, this must be confronted now. To passively witness this spectacle of theft and lies is to allow society itself to collapse.”The Archbishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in December 2008 as Bishop of Angola’s Dundo Diocese expressed concern about the prevalence of superstition in Angola. “We must break free from the myths and falsehoods that make us believe death is always caused by someone else. Ours must become a society of knowledge, science, and reason,” the Angolan Catholic Bishop, who serves as the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST) said.Denouncing the belief in mystical objects and rituals as sources of power, he said, “We can no longer fall into the trap of thinking some doll or object gives us life, wealth, or fame. This outdated mentality must be broken.” Archbishop Imbamba faulted educated individuals, who participate in or tolerate such practices, saying, “Those so-called doctors and graduates who still cling to these superstitions are not yet free from the darkness of ignorance. They remain culturally enslaved.”Last year, one of these individuals was going house to house, demanding payment for entering homes uninvited, claiming to be searching for witchcraft. Often, it’s their accomplices who plant suspicious items in homes to validate their false claims,” he recounted the incident in Angola’s Monoco Province.“It is unacceptable for the authorities to stand by while these people disturb peaceful citizens, entering private property under the guise of fetishism. This must end.”Archbishop Imbamba, who has been at the helm of Saurimo Archdiocese since his installation in July 2011 called for a legal intervention, and added, “This issue is often brushed aside as part of customary law, but we must reform these customs. Culture should liberate, not oppress.”“Authorities must sit down and say: our jurists must criminalize this. Because the violations being committed are unspeakable.” (AP)(Agenzia Fides, 25/6/2025)
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