According to the Catholic archbishop, who was speaking in the province of Huambo, at the opening of the 11th National Assembly of the CEAST Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace, the findings made eight years ago about the socioeconomic reality of families “unfortunately still remain current” .
“Eight years later, even today we see that the gap between the increasingly poor and the few who seize national wealth, often acquired dishonestly and fraudulently, is increasing alarmingly,” he said, recalling a pastoral note from the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé (CEAST), approved in 2016.
The lack of water, basic sanitation and the accumulation of rubbish, he highlighted, contribute to the increase in the mortality rate of children and adults victims of malaria (the main cause of death and hospitalizations), he said.
Gabriel Mbilingi considered that, along with diseases, “today's poor people often resort to trash where they hope to find something to deceive their stomachs”.
“Above all, we are witnessing an almost chronic insensitivity towards evil, towards illness and, above all, towards death”, highlighted the also president of the CEAST Justice and Peace Commission, warning that total indifference to evil “is anti -evangelical".
Mbilingi also criticized the diversion of medicines and food in hospitals, due to the insensitivity of its authors towards patients, considering this to be an evil, “aggravated by the economic crisis, food crisis and hunger”.
“Only those who are truly insensitive cannot understand that our families are suffering, the typical example is the prices of basic food items that skyrocket every day and no one can stop it, as incredible as it may seem”, he lamented.
The 11th National Assembly of the CEAST Episcopal Justice and Peace Commission, which brings together more than 50 delegates in the Angolan province of Huambo, to reflect on the country's socioeconomic and religious life, runs until this Friday.
The concerns of the archbishop of Lubango were expressed on the same day that the president of CEAST, archbishop José Manuel Imbamba, was received, in audience, by the President of the Republic João Lourenço, at the Presidential Palace, in Luanda.
José Manuel Imbamba said, upon leaving the meeting, that he discussed with the President the need to hold a large meeting to reflect on the country's 50 years of independence, to be celebrated on November 11, 2025.
“We think that ecumenical worship will not be enough, we will have to hold a great meeting of reflection among Angolans so that we can reflect on our past, our today, our tomorrow”, he told journalists, noting that Angola needs a social, political purge , economic and legal to become more inclusive.
“What needs to be done so that Angola, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary, is truly reborn as Angola, reborn as inclusion, as meritocracy, as welcoming and fraternity so that Angola is reborn as a country of all and for all?”, he asked.
The meeting between João Lourenço and the president of CEAST comes after the chief executive received, on Tuesday, several leaders of religious organizations in the country.
