Leading Nigerian prelate: ‘Pentecostal churches not a threat’

Nigeria’s leading prelate said during an address in Rome that “the existence of many Pentecostal churches is no impediment to the evangelization mission of the Catholic Church in Nigeria, and neither is it a cause for panic,” according to a report by the Catholic Information Service for Africa. 

“The flourishing of Pentecostal churches is itself questionable,” said Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja. They “go up and down, and the constant splitting means that we cannot be sure where they are heading, and what future they have. In fact, we are still to see what happens when the founders die and succession takes place … We need not panic or think that we shall all become Pentecostals sooner or later.” 

“There is much talk about losing members to these churches,” he added. “But there are no statistics in this matter, nor have we tried to get any such figures. What we can say is that if the Catholic Church is losing members, other churches are losing more than we are.”