Sorcery unit in Ribat’s vision for provinces

National

THE government has been urged to set up a special police unit in each province to deal with sorcery-related killings.
Cardinal Sir John Ribat of the Catholic Church said sorcery-related killings had increased and the government should do something to stop it quickly,
Cardinal Ribat told the PNG Christian Alliance leader’s church service recently that it was wrong for people to take the law into their own hands and kill other people they accused of practising sorcery. He said sorcery practice was a cultural thing that existed in PNG before Christian missionaries came.
He said it was usually associated with evil practices where others allegedly cast a spell on others to hurt them.
“We came out from a cultural background but when Christianity came in, we understand that Christ came in, and we know that God is more powerful then all these things,” he said.
“People must go back to church because they do not seem to fear God and the laws anymore.”
Cardinal Ribat said people were dying and it did not seem fair because there was no proper way of settling disputes over sorcery.
He encouraged churches to get people back to Christian ways so that people could respect themselves and other people.
He urge the Government to create a body in the justice system that could deal with sorcery-related cases quickly.