The request for Lourenço to agree to meet with a mission led by Congressman Marcos Pereira, licensed bishop of the UCKG, was made by Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourão during the last summit of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), held last week in Luanda.
Elected with strong support from evangelicals, among them parliamentarians who are bishops of the UCKG, the Brazilian government led by the President, Jair Bolsonaro, has been charged by the UCKG to interfere in the defense of the institution in Angola, where the church has been facing a crisis since 2019.
According to Brazilian 'media', Bolsonaro climbed Mourão to make an appeal to Lourenço in favor of the IURD, taking advantage of the CPLP agenda.
In an interview with Lusa at the CPLP summit, Mourão had already stated that he intended to debate the issue and argued that "this issue of the Universal Church here [in Angola] is an issue that affects the Government and Brazilian society because of the penetration that this church has and the political participation that it has [in Brazil], with a party that is the Republican Party, which represents the people of the Church."
"The Brazilian government would like a consensus to be reached between these two parties and for the Angolan state here to receive the Brazilian parliamentary delegation that wants to come here to try to reach an agreement and a point where the differences that have occurred are cooled down," Mourão mentioned.
The Folha highlighted, citing interlocutors with knowledge of the matter, that in a bilateral meeting with Lourenço the Brazilian vice-president asked him for a fair treatment to the UCKG in the lawsuits against the denomination in Angola and asked the Angolan president to receive the mission of evangelical parliamentarians in Angola.
Lourenço, in turn, reportedly replied that it was not appropriate for a delegation of Brazilian congressmen to be received by him, but said that the parliamentarians would be welcome at a meeting with Angolan parliamentarians, whenever duly invited by the Angolan Congress.
Questioned on Tuesday about the request he had made to the Angolan head of state, Mourão did not mention the alleged refusal and told local media that the trip of the parliamentarians is being negotiated by the Brazilian embassy and the Angolan Foreign Ministry and, for now, "there is no answer on that.
At stake is an internal conflict of the UCKG in the African country, which has divided its members into two wings, one led until today by Brazilian bishop Honorilton Gonçalves and the other by Angolan bishop Valente Bezerra.
The conflict had its beginning in November 2019, when a group of Angolan dissidents decided to break away from the Brazilian leadership with several allegations of crimes, namely of currency evasion, racism, mandatory practice of vasectomy, among others.
The missionaries of the church created by Brazilian Edir Macedo denied the accusations and also accused the Angolans of xenophobia and aggression.
In the Angolan justice system - after the beginning of disagreements between the parties, aggravated by the forcible takeover of temples all over the country - several lawsuits related to the UCKG Angola are underway.
The Reform Commission of Angolan pastors was legitimized by the Angolan State, and the new management of the UCKG, headed by Bishop Valente Bezerra, was elected in a general assembly on February 13.
