Pretoria, South Africa, Mar 25, 2009 / 23:43 pm
As South Africa’s April 22 elections approach, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Archbishop of Durban and spokesman for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, has issued a letter calling on political leaders to stop using church services as election platforms and to stop seeking “endorsement” from churches.
His March 25 statement insists that the Catholic Church in South Africa does not endorse any specific political party.
“It is not the role of any church to do so,” he explained. “As the Catholic Church, we rely on the fundamental principle that democracy allows individuals the right to make their own informed choice according to their conscience. This informed choice must be free from any coercion from church, political party or other interest group, and guided by the moral principles by which we distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, truth and falsehood.”
Encouraging Catholics who are registered to vote to do so, Cardinal Napier appealed for prayers: