AFRICA/ANGOLA - Church working on the frontline in defense of children accused of “sorcery,” a sad reality which was denounced by Benedict XVI in his recent visit to Africa

Luanda (Agenzia Fides) - “For some time now, the Church in Angola has been providing help to children accused of 'sorcery' who are abandoned by their families,” Agenzia Fides was told by local Church sources in Luanda, the capital of Angola, where the government has filed an investigation on the phenomenon, which was denounced by Benedict XVI in his recent visit.
“Today it is up to you, brothers and sisters, following in the footsteps of those heroic and holy heralds of God, to offer the Risen Christ to your fellow citizens. So many of them are living in fear of spirits, of malign and threatening powers. In their bewilderment they end up even condemning street children and the elderly as alleged sorcerers,” the Holy Father said in his homily at the Mass celebrated on Saturday, March 21, in São Paulo Church in Luanda.
“We should discover the reasons for which the children become victims and why they are accused of sorcery. We have to discover how we can put an end to all this, as we receive daily reports on children accused of being sorcerers and who suffer abuse from adults,” the Director of the National Institute for Religious Affairs, Fatima Viegas, told the Angolan national agency ANGOP.
“It has already occurred in the past that the public was shocked by the case of a sect that committed serious abuses against some forty children, claiming that they needed to 'cleanse them of the spirits that possessed them.' The children were found abandoned and in serious conditions,” Fides' sources mentioned. “These children just need true affection and that their material needs be met. The Catholic Church runs various care centers for these children, in a service led by priests, religious, and laity.”
The origin of this drama is both ancient and modern, fruit of superstition, ignorance, and poverty, as Fides sources explained: “It is a phenomenon that at the beginning only existed in rural areas, but that with the process of urbanization, has spread to the outskirts of the city as well. Normally the children who are accused of “sorcery” are those who were entrusted by their parents to their relatives or are orphans. In order to avoid having to care for them, they accuse them of “sorcery” and leave them in the street. The same phenomenon is verified in relation to the elderly, however it mainly occurs in Sao Tome.” (LM) (Agenzia Fides 1/4/2009)