Don’t mistake our blessings for endorsement � Catholic Church tells candidates

Posted by: b3rrilyn in News Feb 23, 2015

The President of the Bishops Conference of Nigeria, Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, says the Catholic church did not endorse any presidential candidate or any politician ahead of the forthcoming general elections.

The bishop stated that instead of supporting any candidate for elective office, the church would continue to demand good governance and accountability from those holding public office…..

Kaigama made the comments on Sunday, February 22, at the commencement of the 2015 Lenten Campaign at the St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Jos.

He was represented by the Vicar General, Administration and Religious of the archdiocese, Monsignor Cletus Gotan, who said that every political office aspirant would receive the blessings of the church, however, adding that the blessing should not be translated as an endorsement.

He said that the theme of the Lenten campaign, �Enforcing the right to good governance,’ was conceived with the realisation that the ultimate goal of any person seeking any office should be for public good and that such a person should exhibit a high sense of service and responsibility in the discharge of the demands of such office.

Kaigama, who is also the Catholic Archbishop of Jos, said: �The heat generated by the present campaigns is as if there will be no 2019 and that politics will come and end in 2015. We should be careful and learn from countries that have been engulfed in one form of crisis or the other, especially of religious nature because such countries are yet to come over the trauma they went through.”