Angola: bishop speaks of witchcraft’s challenge

October 20, 2011

An Angolan bishop has told the Fides news agency that witchcraft is one of the major challenges he faces in his ministry.

“Among our pastoral challenges there is the material and spiritual poverty of the population,” said Bishop António Francisco Jaca of Caxito, which is located in the northwestern part of the nation.

“As regards to the first, the territory of the diocese is largely rural, and the population lives on subsistence farming,” he said. “As regards to the second, the challenge is witchcraft and the spread of sects. Witchcraft is a cultural phenomenon that concerns the entire Country, and in Caxito it is largely practiced just like other parts of Angola.”

Bishop Jaca also spoke of the growing Chinese and Muslim influence in the southwest African nation, where life expectancy is under 40. 55.5% of Angola’s 15.9 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics.

 

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Further information:

• "Angola is a country in rapid transformation; poverty, sects and immigrants are a challenge and an opportunity for the Church" says the Bishop of Caxito to Fides (Fides)