Reverend Stephen Mamza, the Bishop of Catholic Dioceses in Yola has stated that Nigerian clerics that are into partisan politics because of financial gains do not have any form credibility anymore.
While speaking with newsmen from Punch, Mamza explained that even the church can no longer control such clerics, meaning they have crossed the line and tarnished their integrity.
The Bishop said, “The problem we have is that we have hungry religious leaders. Those that are not there for the service of God but because of their pockets. If not, why should a religious leader allow the politician to control him? The cleric is supposed to be the leader of the politician and not the other way around, as we can see.
“We (clerics) are supposed to form the conscience of the politicians. But in a situation where due to material things, we cede this position to them, then we’ll lose our credibility. The problem that we have today with religious leaders is that many of them have lost their credibility because they dabbled into politics.
“I can give example with the Catholic church. The Catholic church has rules and regulations. But there are many other religious bodies that do not have guiding principles. These are the ones that allow their religious leaders to go into politics and they go beyond the limits that are acceptable.”’
Mamza also shared his opinion of Reverend Fr. Mbaka, stating that his actions are embarrassing and deserving sanctions.
He stated, “Reverend Father Mbaka is an embarrassment to the Catholic church and I wonder why he is yet to be sanctioned by the bishop of his diocese. This cannot happen in other dioceses. There is no reason why he should not be sanctioned.
“Every priest is under the jurisdiction of his bishop. If a priest commits a crime or does something wrong anywhere in the world, the person that acts on that priest is the bishop. Even Rome will not act just like that; it is your own bishop that will do that. I think we can say that his bishop should make sure he cautions Mbaka because he has really crossed his bounds.”
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