The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru Cleophas Oseso Tuka made a startling remark after members of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) concluded their 10-day Ad Limina visit in the Vatican early this month.
This is an obligatory visit that Catholic Bishops of various Episcopal Conferences in Africa undertake every five years to express their solidarity with Pope Francis.
At the same time, each of the Catholic Bishops in Kenya was supposed to submit their respective reports to Rome including the challenges that are facing the Church and some of the solutions they propose as Bishops.
Speaking during the Diocese Family Day at Christ the King Cathedral in Nakuru City on Saturday Bishop Oseso, said while their visit to the Vatican will re-energized the bishops to serve in their respective Episcopal Sees it was also an eye opener on self-reliance.
“It was a very beautiful experience and during an encounter with Vatican officials one major point of discussion was the issue of the financial assistance,” said Bishop Oseso.
However, Bishop Oseso revealed that the meeting turned out to be an eye-opener as the Vatican was categorical that future assistance with funds to help run the African dioceses should come from local parishes and not the Vatican.
“We were told point blank that the Vatican is not a lending bank and we must look for our financial solutions,” said Bishop Oseso.
“When you ponder these are words for deep thought and the church and specifically Nakuru Catholic Diocese has reached a point where it can be self-reliant and sustain its evangelical mission and other projects without thinking of borrowing from outside including the Vatican,” the Bishop said.
He called on faithful in the diocese who were marking 50 years of building the church as a family that includes Baringo and parts of East Pokot to be generous and support church projects for the expansion of evangelisation activities.
“The more you give, the more blessings will come to you. Remember God sees deep inside your heart. No man can fool him. The poor person who donates more than the rich man gain all the time because of a generous heart,” he said.
Bishop Oseso underlined the importance of evangelization and told the faithful from the more than 60 parishes that the growth of the Church in mission areas in remote parts of the diocese like East Pokot will depend on their generous financial assistance.
“The funds to help run the dioceses, processing of issues related to priests and bishops, among others will come from our pockets and not the Vatican,” said Bishop Oseso.
Bishop Oseso’s remarks are likely to change the way millions of Catholics in Kenya think about financial assistance from the Vatican as the majority of the faithful still believe helping to sustain the four Metropolitans and 22 dioceses is one of the Vatican’s core responsibilities.
According to insiders at the Roman Catholic Church in Kenya, the Vatican's new financial shift is due to its shrinking budget.
As per official records, there are more than 20 million baptised Catholics in Kenya. Results of the 2019 national housing census, indicate that Kenya has 11 million Catholics who attend mass regularly.
The number of baptised Catholics worldwide grew from 1.36 billion in 2020 to almost 1.38 billion in 2021, the last year for which figures are available.
