VATICAN Ambassador to Zambia Apostolic Nuncio Nicola Girasoli has said the Catholic Church will not support the Patriotic Front (PF) in this year’s elections as it will remain non-partisan and work with the Government of the day.
Ambassador Girasoli said the Catholic Church would not endorse any candidate butt it would be up to individual Church members to choose whoever they wanted to support.
Ambassador Girassoli said after the occasion to mark the blessing and launch of Saint Lawrence Catholic Church in Kamwala South that the Government and the Catholic Church were partners and had been implementing several development projects together.
He said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that insinuations by some sectors of society that the pastoral letter read out in Catholic churches on June 5 this year was meant to campaign for PF leader Michael Sata were unfounded.
Ambassador Girasoli said people should be careful to separate individual comments and the official position of the Church on political issues.??He said that the official position of the Catholic Church was to allow individual members to make free choices on who they wanted to elect.
He said the Catholic Church would remain committed to providing its services to the Zambian people through implementation of different projects in education, health and other sectors.
He urged Zambians to embrace the ‘One Zambia One Nation’ slogan as the country heads towards the elections, saying people should always remain untied and peaceful.
[ Times of Zambia ]
Ya! con men in a garb of righteousness.
Thick heads, did it have to take Pastor Girasoli to know that Catholic church has never at anytime endorsed any political party?
Wolves in sheep skin who are u fooling ? Where is ur frank bwalya and those bemba priests
Why state the obvious and LT your heading is misleading. Girasoli – Please sort out Berlusconi before you talk about Zed politics
There are people with such thick heads that they won’t accept what the man said. The man said it clearly each individual will vote for their own party of choice.
Girasoli is an Ambassador & as such, should have left it to the head of the church in Zambia to be delving with such issues. As of now he is just attracting unjustified criticism from this paranoid govt & its cadres.
this is just an official statement, on the ground its donchi kubeba, you can come for mass one day listen to our homily, politics never miss.
Yes! thats the “official position” of my church…so dont listen to “individual comments” of disgrantled priests like frank bwalya(the satanist).
The church has never endorsed PF so is the fact that it is never going to support PF. The church is ready to work with whichever party will scoop a place.:d
One zero to the Post and its accounts clerk with a degree in law by night school..the Church has read the writing on the wall….viva MMD
The church is free to support who whoever the want why make a big issue out of it?
But the other thing is that, not every member of the church is a priest or religious. They can be in support of the candidate of their choice and make it public. So the church remains non partisan even if 95% of its members support PF.
So maybe we change the statement of the story to Ambassador Girasoli Says the Catholic church will not support MMD in the forthcoming elections.
good statement thus what is expected from a church,, imagine if Girasoli had officially stated that they support PF, their cadres could have been dancing just as they celebrate every fabrication written in the Post newspaper? Remain neutral as a church and let disgruntled bemba priest continue believing in their newly born Saviour Sata.
The headline is misleading! PF never asked for support from the catholic church!
LT your heading is far from what the Bishop said. Again you have twisted the Ambasadors words to suit your heading.
What he is saying is that people should be free to choose a leadr of their own choice. MMD is the one that is always forcing people including headmen, Chiefs to make statements that they have endorsed RB. PF is not forcing anyone to endorse SATA.
We want to hear this from his holines archbishop of lsk not Girasoli
Amen! to the holy lie.
Obviously this becomez newz for public government controlled media houzes and yet every right thinking person knowz this haz been the pozition of the Catholic and indeed any other genuine church from time immemorial.
Ba Times the correct healine for this story should have been. “Catholic church will not endorse any party” As it is the story and healine do not match at all. # 6, despite Grasoli being an Ambassodor he is the senior most functional office bearer in Zambia with Cardinal Mazombwe being the senior most in hierachy so he is well within his limits to make the comment.
The reason Girasoli has said that is simple bcoz it is DONT KUBEBA period, otherwise Sata has the blessings of the Catholic Church for being a loyal member of the church by not going to the NCC.
LT your title for this enlightening article is misleading.
It should read: Catholics Church is non-parisan. or
Garisori promotes ‘One Zambia One Nation’
# 22 correction: Girasoli not Garisori
#23 Correct LT coz you and I know very well what #22 meant.
If these priests continue with their donchi kubeba sermons we will be forced to sort them right infront of their flock
Ukese, ukamone ifyo tukakucita, kolwe. You think the flock will be watching you sorting them out in the presence. Just come, ukaimona iminyama
Dont play with vatican.
I love Zambia, and its cheap politics. Any statement made, someone wants to make a political mileage. Come on guys, the Church and State should be separated. That is why I have always called for the declaration of Zambia as a Christian Nation a deviation from the bible and a contradiction of our own constitution which gives us freedom of worship , and equates all religions. Voting for a party or individuals must be based on individual persons and not a church position, just like belonging to a religion.
No. 26 – Yes! and tell the chiefs not to make a stance as well.
Point of correction. Its not the LT who did that heading and story. It was published by Times of Zambia, and LT simply pasted it online here on LT web. So, what Girasoli is saying is that there is nothing to allude to thinking that there is a Catholic vote after all.Each Catholic member is entitled to make his own choice when voting. Thats fine.
Priests, fathers, bishops, ambassadors do not make the Catholic Church. The catholic Church is made up of many Zambians from all the nine provinces. When these members of the Catholic Church vote, they are influenced by many factors such as the political Party, Manifesto, religion, developmental programmes, desire for change, tribe, etc. If we picked 3,000 catholic voters today from Luapula, Eastern and Southern province – 1,000 from each province – and we asked them to vote for either RB, HH or Sata, it may turn out that RB will get the majority of the votes from Southern, HH from Luapula and Sata from Eastern. The reason is simple, Zambian voters are now mature and rational. They will not follow a lunatic priest or some disgruntled chief once they are in that ballot booth!
be careful with these priests..a day of reckoning is coming..GOD will judge us !
What about Bwalya at PF rallies?, he says he speaks for the caholic church.
whoever published this story must have his mind checked!!!
RB is a foreigner from Malawi,he was also born in Gwanda-Zimbabwe.He is not Zambian,coz his umbilical cord is burried in Zim.Im telling you the truth,RB will be barred from contesting because Milton phiri will lodge an injuction before RB fills nomination papers at the Supreme Court. MMD supporters,just start looking for plan B.
LT, please. Or is it Times of Zambia mistake? But is written B. U. T. and not the crap you have in paragraph 2 – BUTT. The meaning changes drastically. Do you guys have proof readers?
the catholic church should just shut up,Girasoli has no right to give a statement….naga bwalya naye ati bwa!!!
Liars! The Priests are busy organising Pf in Northern, Luapula and CB. GAYS!
Just shut the h.e.l.l up. who are you trying to f.o.o.l? The writing is on the wall. Just because they have raelised that Sata is not going to state house this year, they want to dribble us. Not this time around bane. why did he wait for so long to say that. what about father walya?