MALAWI: Catholic Parliamentarians Call for Help from Church Authorities
Bishop Chaima and Bishop Vincent
Sam Kalimba
The current team of Catholic Members of Parliament has lamented over lack of support from the Church authorities in Malawi. This was said on 4 December in Lilongwe during an interface meeting with the authorities organized by the Parliamentary Liaison Office of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) where Rt. Revs. Alfred Mateo Chaima and Vincent Fredrick Mwakhwawa represented the Conference.
Speaking on behalf of the Catholic MPs, Hon. Mary Lupanga who represents the people of Phalombe South Constituency under the Catholic Archdiocese of Blantyre said that they feel ignored by the Church authorities despite the available invitation by the Holy See requesting Catholics to take part in active politics.
“If I may sum up the message put across by my fellow members of parliament, I would say we are ignored by the Church authorities. We want our bishops, the priests and the Church at large to support us. We are not requesting them to support us financially but to always amplify the Holy Father’s message to have Catholics take part in active politics yes, but they also ought to sensitise the faithful on the importance of voting for Catholics as members of parliament of their constituencies by giving us space. We know it is through this that we will be able to bring the social teaching of the Church in high-level decision-making platforms,” said Lupanga.
In response to this call, Rt. Rev. Alfred Chaima said that the complaints should be based on individual feelings because in general the local Church always comes in to invite Catholics to take part in politics.
“They should always know that the Church supports them but may be as we heard from them, others want space during Church functions for them to speak to the faithful. This is where we urge them to understand that during liturgical functions such the celebration of Mass that they are not allowed to politically interact with the faithful. Holy Mass is a place where people come to pray, so even the MPs are supposed to come to pray and not to vent vested political interests. However, since they have brought it as an issue, we will go back to our drawing board and see how much as a Church we may be of help to their needs as they live their vocation,” said Chaima.
Bishop Chaima reiterated the need for every Catholic including politicians to always be guided by the Catholic social teaching in their daily lives. He told the MPs to remember what the Church teaches including when they want to make a contribution to a bill let alone when they want to vote for that bill.
“Let us know what is expected of us as Catholic MPs by the Church especially when you have to contribute or vote for a bill. For example, the Church teaches about the principles of the dignity of a human being, option for the poor, principles of subsidiarity, solidarity, and sanctity of life. These are principles that every individual must uphold at all times let alone policy makers, who must base their arguments and voting rights on these teachings,” he said.
The meeting brought together all Catholic MPs from across the current 193 constituencies who sacrificed their egos and political differences and joined by the Sacrament of Eucharist through the Mass that preceded the meeting.
Malawi Parliament is currently seating in Lilongwe for the mid-year budget review, which will also see the legislatures passing other private members’ and government bills. ECM has a Parliamentary Liaison Office as a Chaplaincy for Catholic Members of Parliament, which organises such interface meetings every seating of parliament.
Malawi is going to polls on 16 September 2025 and incumbent MPs are fighting to reclaim their seats while new entrants are trying all they can to out seat them. It still remains a puzzle if numbers of Catholic MPs are going to rise, drop or remain constant in the next elections.
