At issue is the rekindling, in recent days, of the conflict that has divided, since the end of 2019, the UCKG, a church founded by the Brazilian Edir Macedo, opened in Angola in 1992, when a group of Angolan pastors and former pastors denounced alleged irregularities in the Brazilian leadership, creating a reform commission.
"We want to reassure the whole society and especially the members of the Universal Church, and ask for serenity, not to give in to provocations, as the church will continue to follow the administrative procedures for the gradual reopening of the temples, together with the authorities of our country, in order to to restore legality", he says in a statement.
Last week, new conflicts were recorded, namely in the municipality of Cazenga, with the alleged physical and verbal aggression against a pastor of the church in that area, an action carried out by a group of people, supposedly incited by former UCKG pastors.
According to the note, "currently, there is no legal obstacle to the direction of the church, and they are duly equipped in the light of the law and the statutes of the church as well as, through the declarative letter of legitimacy for the use of the name, symbol and mark Universal Church of the Kingdom of God".
"Being that the UCKG is a private association, of a legal person, internationalized and recognized by more than 140 countries in the world", it adds.
The document stresses that, "in Angola, the person responsible for creating this denomination, recognized its association under the terms of the second part of article 69 of the constitutional law, and delegated competences and powers for the use of the same brand 'Universal Church of the Kingdom of God' to Angolan citizens Bishop Alberto Segunda and Bishop António Miguel Ferraz".
Currently, the UCKG in Angola is led by the general presbyter Alberto Segunda and by the chairman of the board of directors António Miguel Ferraz.
Following the disagreement between the two parties, the UCKG filed a contentious appeal in 2021 with the third section of the civil, administrative, tax and customs chamber of the Supreme Court, to annul the acts carried out by the former director of the National Institute of Religious Affairs (INAR), which officialized in a statement "the self-titled Reform Commission, made up of dissident pastors and former pastors, who, as is well known, attacked some of the church's temples, attacked pastors and held an assembly in disrespect for the statutes of the Universal Church".
In the statement, the UCKG recalls that the criminal proceedings against it that took place between December 2021 and March 2022 acquitted the defendants of the crimes they were accused of, "due to unfounded evidence", determining "the restitution of all seized temples" on account of the process.
"Process that puts an end to this sad episode that the church has been going through for almost four years", highlights the statement.
According to the UCKG, the "dissidents and former pastors distort the clarifications of the Supreme Court's judgment, in a purposeful way to foment untruths to Angolan society and instigate inappropriate practices such as feuds, invasions of the UCKG's places of worship, issue documents imbued with untruths to public institutions, with the purpose of deceiving and leading the State bodies to act in accordance with their interests".
