Catholic bishop tells faithful to ask for God’s mercy over abuse of environment

Good-Friday
By Chinyere Omeire
Lagos, April 10, 2020 (NAN) Most Rev. Alfred Adwale Martins, the Catholic Bishop of Lagos Archdiocese, on Friday asked christians to pray for God’s mercy for their abuse of the envoronment.

He gave the advise during his homily at the celebration of Good Friday Mass at Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos.

According to him, the environment is being abused when citizens dump refuse in drains or build structures in the part of nature.

The Mass was televised live on Channel 350 on DSTV and was followed by Catholic faithful at their various homes in different parts of the country due to the stay-at-home order to curb the spread of Coronavirus.

He said, “Today we couldn’t dramatise the passion of Christ on the streets of Lagos. We are having a muted celebration due to COVID-19 pandemic.

“There has been a lot of conspiracy theory about the COVID-19 pandemic, some say it is a sort of struggle to establish a church of artificial intelligence.

“Whichever one is true, God does not need to punish the world but it might be the sin we commit against the environment or an experiment gone wrong.

“We all need to ask God for mercy and pardon for whatever we have done to abuse the environment.

“We don’t need scientists to abuse the earth when we dump waste in drains or when we build our houses in the part of nature.”

The bishop also advised Christians and residents to learn to accept guilt of their sins, examine their consciences rather than focus on blaming other people for what wrong they did.

“Today is the celebration of the commemoration of crucifixion of Jesus. We are called today to make amendments by resolving not to crucify Jesus anymore,” he said. (NAN)

OCC/OIF/DCU

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Edited by ifeyinwa Okonkwo/Donald Ugwu