Against the general belief across the globe that the Catholic Church is one of the richest churches in the world, Archbishop of Kaduna Catholic Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Man-oso Ndagoso has said it was a wrong impression.
Bishop Ndagoso said if the Catholic is so rich as many people are claiming, its leaders would have owned private jets all over the country like other church leaders are doing.
He pointed out that many people, including some Catholic faithful, even went to the extent of believing that the Pope has a mint where he prints American dollars and distributes to catholic dioceses around the world.
The cleric who spoke at a dinner cum formal commissioning ceremony of a newly built multi-purpose secretariat for Kaduna Diocese, said the Catholic leadership is prudent at managing meagre resources.
He said some people even have the erroneous impression that the head of the Catholic church, Pope has a mint from where he distributes dollars to dioceses all over the world.
Bishop Ndagoso restated that the catholic leadership does not engage in wasteful spending, but proper management of its resources to the envy of the world.
“Many people in our country, including Catholics, are under the wrong impression that the Catholic Church is very rich. “If we are rich we would have bought fleets of jets like any other church, but we are not.
“Some even think that the Pope has a mint in the Vatican where he prints American dollars and the Euro which he distributes to catholic dioceses around the world. “If anything, what makes our church look rich is the ability to properly manage scarce resources with prudence and transparency.
“This is why with so little, the church has always pursued goals that benefit humanity in general regardless of creed and social status through schools, hospitals and other social services.
“It is for the same reason that as a church we always aspire to work in close collaboration with the state and its agencies that seek to improve the human condition like I said at the ground breaking ceremony of this project eight and half years ago.
“Be that as it may, I wish to reiterate that our hands of collaboration are stretched out to the government, civil society groups and non government organisations for the common good of our people, especially in the areas of the provision of qualitative and functional education, health care and social services.
“In this vein, I wish to appeal to Kaduna State government to borrow a leaf from other state governments especially those in the southern and Middle Belt of our country and return our schools that were taken away from us without compensation as a matter of justice so that the church and the state can resume collaboration in the common service of our people”. Bishop Ndagoso said.
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