Catholic Church to hunt witch hunters

A Catholic Bishop in Papua New Guinea has announced that the diabolical Papua New Guinean tendency to hunt and slay persons alleged to be witches shall be combated in the coming year.

During an intense New Year interview yesterday, PNG's Enga Provincial Catholic Bishop of Wabag Arnold Orowae stated that witch hunting; the subjugation of women caused by it and the overall negative image the act portrays shall be addressed by the Catholic Church. Bishop Orowae who has served in the province for over a decade said that as the sun sets on 2014, it is the Catholic Church’s utmost intent to turn the tables on the centuries’ old practice of witch hunting making the hunters, ‘the hunted.’ He expressed his disgust at people who call themselves Christians and go around spreading dissension and unsubstantiated lies linking innocent individuals to the macabre and morbid realm of sorcery. The Bishop furthered that it was the Catholic Orders’ plan to seek out groups and persons who supposedly hunt witches and stop them by showing them the error in their belief system. Bishop Orowae also said that the Church’s fight against these witch hunters when identified would be taken on jointly with the police if need arose or rebuked persons remained unrepentant. Speaking in light of the Christmas Day incident that involved a group in the Wanakipa area of Hela Province who allegedly hunted down and almost succeeded in killing four women accused of witch craft, Bishop Orowae said it was the Church’s absolute resolve to initiate a halt to such incidents that have held an oppressive power over women in particular. It was disclosed that over 25 women alone have been killed over the past ten years after being accused of witchcraft. Bishop Orowae pointed out that witch hunters always hide their murderous intentions under a self-deceiving veil of good will ordaining themselves the judge, jury and executioners of otherwise innocent women. “The unethical and unlawful killing of women alleged to be witches must and will be stopped in 2015. “The Catholic Church is therefore taking the stand to ex-communicate any persons or groups that wish to continue the occult practice. “We will work with NGO’s and slowly entice the government into taking a more prominent role in fighting this adopted act that has destroyed the country socially through its oppression of women, culturally through the false claim of it being a domestic practice and where the country’s reputation is concerned on the world front,” Bishop Orowae said.

PNG Today/Post Courier