Lusaka - The
Catholic Apostolic National
Church of
Zambia was due to be born on Christmas Day in protest over the Roman Catholic Church's celibacy laws. The Church, which will be affiliated to the first Catholic Apostolic Church started in
Brazil in 1945, was due to be launched in the southern African country on Tuesday to coincide with the birth of Jesus Christ over 2,000 years ago.
"We have decided to go back to the original Catholic Church which promotes family," a bishop-elect for the new church, Adamson Musonda, was quoted as saying Monday.
Several serving Catholic priests and bishops had already fathered children, he alleged.
The church, which will be open to Catholics and Pentecostal Christians, will be the first of its kind of Africa, according to its vicar general, Bishop Isaac Chabwera.
"We want to fulfil the biblical requirement of marriage sacrament which is not provided for in the Roman Catholic Church," he said.
The new church would also adopt a more less adversarial approach to government and promote inter-denominational cooperation, he added.
