"Angola: bishop speaks of witchcraft's challenge"

Snippet from www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/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.

"[S]aid Bishop António Francisco Jaca of Caxito, which is located in the northwestern part of the nation, Among our pastoral challenges is the material and spiritual poverty of the population ..."

The good bishop now elaborates:

"As regards to the first, the territory of the diocese is largely rural, and the population lives on subsistence farming.

"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 is largely practiced just like [in] other parts of Angola.''

And to conclude:

"Bishop Jaca also spoke of the growing Chinese and Muslim influence in the southwest African nation, where life expectancy is under 40.

Numbers crunching: "55.5% of Angola's 15.9 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics..."

Interesting report! :)