Cardinal warns Zambia’s Catholics: don’t allow syncretism to dilute the faith
November 11, 2016
Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, traveled to Zambia to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the beginning of evangelization in the African nation.
The cardinal praised the remarkable growth of the Church there but warned against the temptation to dilute the Catholic faith.“You are indeed blessed with a Christian society here,” he said at a forum of bishops, priests, and lay leaders on November 10. “I urge you to remain vigilant in not allowing forms of syncretism to dilute the authentic truth of Jesus Christ as taught by the Catholic Church.”
“Continue to intensify your efforts to promote pastoral work and evangelization, exhorting the young to seek Gospel ideals, forming them to create authentic Christian families founded on the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony as an indissoluble and permanent institution,” he added.
The nation of 14.6 million is approximately 70% Protestant and 30% Catholic. The Church in Zambia has 318 parishes, 857 priests, 567 seminarians, 179 religious brothers, and 2,021 religious sisters, according to recent Vatican statistics.
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Nov. 12, 2016 1:53 PM ET USA
Thank God! Thank God! Thank God for the Church in Africa. Right-thinking (not rigid), faithful to the purity of the Church, forward looking. What a breathe of fresh air to alleviate the burden of the stench that seems to have entered the highest levels of the Latin Church.
