The request for the President's mediation was presented this Tuesday at a press conference by Bishop Alberto Segunda (Brazilian wing), recalling that the restitution of the temples of the UCKG is supported by a judgment of 31 March, handed down by the Court of the District of Luanda (TCL).
The bishop of the UCKG, whose temples reopened last Wednesday, two years after they closed, asked the President to "look at the affliction of the people of the Universal Church".
"The people that for two years were prevented from worshiping and the people that understand that one of the people, if not the only one, who can help in the mediation of this conflict is His Excellency President Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço", he said.
"We would like you to give special attention to the more than 500 thousand faithful that the church has throughout the national territory, these people cry out for justice to be done and you (President) put it right when you said that you let justice do its work", stressed the bishop of the UCKG.
The UCKG in Angola reopened its more than 100 temples, spread across 18 provinces, last Wednesday, following a TCL ruling that acquitted its pastors and "determined the immediate return of the temples".
According to Alberto Segunda, the reopening of the UCKG's temples was followed by alleged "threats and intimidation" by officials from the National Institute of Religious Affairs (INAR) and police officers against its faithful.
In his speech, the bishop recalled that the pastors of the UCKG were acquitted of the crimes they had been accused of and the judgment of March 31 "determined the lifting of the seizures of the temples and the restitution to their owners".
At this time, he noted, "the public, police and INAR authorities must respect the judicial decision, which restored the temples, which is a sovereign decision, otherwise we are facing illegality that jeopardizes the rule of law and democracy."
The direction of the UCKG recognized by INAR is headed by Bishop Valente Bizerra Luís, who coordinated the reform commission that came into conflict with the Brazilian leadership of the UCKG in 2019.
Both wings - the one of Brazilian origin, now led by the Angolan Alberto Segunda, and the dissident Angolan wing, led by Bizerra Luís - claim to be the legitimate representatives of the church founded by Edir Macedo.
For Alberto Segunda, the wing he directs has a "very different view" from the other side, because, he stressed, "it is clear that our brothers are more interested in heritage than anything else".
"I repeat that our interest here is not the issue of division of assets, because even if we had to start from scratch, we would start, what is being discussed here is the issue of justice, we are being wronged, it is not question of heritage", he replied to Lusa.
The UCKG's Angolan bishop says he is "fighting for a just cause", but, he pointed out, "if the (Angolan) State decides that we are left without the patrimony, but that we do not remove the mark, which belongs to a man called Bishop Edir Macedo".
"What is at stake here is not the heritage, but a matter of justice, what has to be put on the agenda is how these individuals took the temples violently, with plunder and nobody says anything", he shot.
"It's easy to talk about the division of heritage, it's easy to talk about reconciliation, all of this is easy, let's go to the merits of the issue, let's go to how this theme started, people think, have brains and cannot accept being manipulated", he defended.
The Universal Church "there are more than 500 thousand faithful and they are the owners of this heritage, they will not accept to give up what is theirs, I am simply a missionary, today I am here and tomorrow I am going to another country and the faithful people?" he asked.
For his part, the lawyer for the Brazilian wing of the UCKG, Marcelo Mendes, said on the occasion that more than 30 civil actions, including measures and main actions on the UCKG, are in legal proceedings with the civil and administrative sections of the provinces of Angola.
"Our genuine interpretation that emerged from the reading of the TCL ruling is that the refund did not require the intervention of third parties and that interpretation that we withdraw", stressed the lawyer.
The UCKG, recognized in Angola since 1992, already had a heritage of 307 temples, mostly rented and then returned to the owners following the conflicts, and currently has more than 100 temples of its own throughout Angolan territory.
Hundreds of faithful filled the UCKG cathedral in Maculusso, Luanda, where the press conference took place, with chants, fasting and prayers marking the opening moments of the meeting at the entrance of the cathedral.
"Our spiritual leader is Bishop Alberto Segunda", "Give us back our churches, the State is secular" and "The UCKG case has already been resolved in court" were some of the words printed on the posters at the entrance to the cathedral.
