MALAWI: Government Pledges Support and Collaboration with the Catholic Church

Vice President of the
republic of Malawi Right honorable Saulos Chilima has pledged government’s
commitment to continue working with the Catholic Church to promote culture and
democracy, respect for life, human rights 
and inclusive development.

Speaking during the
closing Holy Mass of the 18th AMECEA Plenary Assembly held at Maula
grounds of the Cathedral of Lilongwe Archdiocese in Malawi the Vice President
said that he wanted to assure the Episcopal Conference of Malawi that the
government of His Excellency Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika will continue giving them
the necessary support.

“All good things must come to an
end. On behalf of the head of States His Excellency Prof. Arthur Mutharika,
President of the republic of Malawi and on my own I would like to congratulate
the delegates to the AMECEA Plenary for the successful deliberations which you
had here in Malawi,” he said adding that “Allow me to also congratulate the
entire Catholic Church in Malawi for hosting this Plenary Assembly. I am aware
that this is a result of sacrifice, hard work and the commitment that you have displayed.”

Honorable
Chilima further said that  the people of
Catholic Church in Malawi has made all of them proud and that as a country they
have shown that they are capable of hosting such international conferences.

“I must say
that personally, I believe this has been a great success. Those who believe
otherwise need special prayers. Perhaps the Archbishop of Lilongwe can organize
a special retreat for such individuals,” he said.

The Vice
President congratulated the outgoing chairperson Most Rev. Tarcicio Ziyaye,
Archbishop of Lilongwe and the entire outgoing Executive board of AMECEA for the
contributions that they have made to the Church in the region. “The region has
already begun to see the fruits of your hard work; may the Lord continue to
bless you as you continue to serve at different levels in the Church,” he said.

He also extended
his congratulation to the newly elected chairman for AMECEA Most Rev. Archbishop Berhaneyesus D.
Souraphiel, Archbishop of Addis Ababa, and the newly elected executive board
for accepting to take up this challenge as servants of God and their people.

“On this note I call
upon the bishops here present and all government leaders in the AMECEA Region
to promotion of respect of freedom of worship and in a special way I experess
solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia,” he
said adding that “I appeal to all political leaders in all the countries in
AMECEA Region to render support to religious leaders who are trying their best
to promote the lives of the people through various developmental initiatives as
inspired by their faith.”

“Our elders say wisdom
is like a baobab tree, one individual cannot embrace it. We need to work
together. For the future I would like to urge the Episcopal Conference of
Malawi to start planning for the AMECEA Plenary 2032 now,” he said adding that “We
might think that 18 years is a long time but you will be surprised that you
would be called upon either here or in a different diocese to attend a similar
event. We have to start now, perhaps we don’t need to close the AMECEA Account,
we start fund raising activities now so that in 2032 we have a much bigger
event than what we are seeing here today.”

By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA
Social Communications