Catholic Bishop in Angola Appeals for Dialogue after Mourners Clash with Police at Traditional Ruler’s Funeral

At least four young people were reportedly injured and taken to hospital, including a member of a Christian community in the Diocese of Luena who sustained a leg injury.

“Thank God, I have not heard of any deaths occurring,” the Uruguayan-born member of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) said.

Beyond the immediate confrontation, the Catholic Bishop expressed concern about what he described as the damage caused to the cultural traditions and dignity of the Lunda people.

“All respect for African tradition has died,” he stated, saying that the removal of the body before thousands of mourners was perceived by the community as “an insult, a humiliation, and even a profanation of their traditions.”

Bishop Lasarte called on Catholics, Catechists, traditional leaders, civil authorities, and the wider population to reject retaliation and work toward reconciliation.

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“The response to violence cannot be new violence. Evil cannot be overcome with evil,” he said.

He urged Christians to become “preachers and witnesses of Christ’s love” and emphasized that Christian love must extend beyond family, neighborhood, or ethnic identity.

“If my love for my family, my neighborhood, or my ethnic group is great, but is not yet open to loving everyone, that love is not of Christ,” the Catholic Church leader said

Bishop Lasarte also called on residents of Moxico Leste to become “ambassadors of peace and reconciliation,” particularly as the new province continues to develop.

“Let us not grow tired of loving, even though we find a thousand obstacles in our path,” he said, adding that love must be “a force to walk and fight for justice and truth.”

The Bishop of Lwena called on the inhabitants of the region to become “instruments of peace, harmony, and fraternal love,” entrusting them to the protection of Mary, whom he invoked as the “Queen of Peace.”