Priests 'mustn't do witchcraft'
2006-08-16 18:06
Johannesburg - Southern Africa's Catholic
bishops have warned priests to stop moonlighting as
witchdoctors, fortune tellers and traditional healers, and to
rely on Christ for miracles.
The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, which
represents bishops in South Africa, Swaziland and Botswana, said
on its websites some priests were adopting the traditional
African practice of calling on ancestors for healing.
The bishops ordered priests to "desist from practices
involving spirits", and to steer clear from witchcraft,
fortune-telling and selling spiritual powers or magic medicines.
"The belief that ancestors are endowed with supernatural
powers borders on idolatry. It is God, and God alone, who is
all-powerful while the ancestors are created by him," said the
pastoral letter to priests issued earlier this month.
Many in Southern Africa turn to sangomas - or traditional
healers - to cure illness, ward off evil spirits and even
improve their sex lives. Sangomas, who play a key role in rural
communities but are also revered by many in towns and cities,
call on ancestral spirits to heal and give advice.
Some Christian sects, like the South Africa-based Zion
Christian Church, fuse traditional African beliefs about the
power of the ancestors with orthodox Christianity.
The Southern African bishops said Catholic priests should
instead heal in the name of Jesus Christ, and should tend to the
soul, not just the body.