"For me there are no two wings, it no longer exists, that was just at the beginning of the conflict, what exists now is the UCKG which is going through a phase of reconciliation", said Alberto Segunda, Angolan bishop and leader of the well-known Brazilian wing of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) in Angola.
According to the religious, his leadership has been working with the "focus on reconciliation between all the faithful", in order to unite the church.
"And proof of this is that every Sunday in our nuclei and prayer houses we have received several workers and members who were once away from the church because of this conflict", he stressed, in statements to Lusa.
"There may always be those who want to follow their path, which is normal, but we as the main church are open to receive all the brothers who wish to return so that we can walk together in the same faith", he stressed.
The Luanda Provincial Command of the National Police announced, in April 2022, that access to the IURD times remained prohibited until the court notified the police authorities for their removal, following an announcement by the IURD about the restitution of properties.
A ruling by the District Court of Luanda, dated March 31, 2022, acquitted the IURD pastors of the crimes they had been accused of and ordered the "lifting of seizures and the immediate restitution" of the temples, closed for more than two years, as Bishop Alberto Segunda said, a week before the police intervention.
Today, the bishop said that the more than 100 UCKG temples spread across the 18 Angolan provinces remain closed, admitting, however, their reopening soon, after the execution of the sentence.
"What we are currently waiting for is the execution of the sentence and as it is not something that depends on us, but on those who are entitled to it, we are simply waiting and we believe that it will be fulfilled because the decision of the courts is mandatory", highlighted.
"We believe in justice and what I understand is that it is coming soon, now when it will be I can't say if it will be in a week or a month, we are with our lawyers trying to see a way to overcome this once and for all all," he added.
The direction of the IURD recognized by the National Institute of Religious Affairs (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 wing, Angolan, led by Bizerra Luís – claim to be the legitimate representatives of the church founded by Edir Macedo.
Lusa contacted the deputy director general of INAR and he said he was not authorized to speak on the matter. He also contacted Bishop Valente Bizerra Luís, who forwarded statements on the matter for later.
