About 50,000 affected by torrential rain in southern Mozambique
Picture: AIM
The papal visit Management Commission has condemned the circulation in the domestic market of a ‘fake’ [unofficial] capulana, whose design is not sanctioned by the Catholic Church, and has requested that the competent authorities intervene to stop it being sold as a matter of urgency.
Father Constantino Bogaio, a member of the papal visit Management Commission, told Radio Mozambique that “the official capulana is being sold in the parishes, at Pauline Books (Livraria Paulinas), the Archbishopric and the dioceses”.
The Commission, he said, had never put the official capulana up for sale in the informal market or the Xipamanine market, and he harshly criticised people involved in the counterfeiting, calling for them to display some common sense and cease their ‘illegal actions’.
“It is not good for us Mozambicans, who are here to welcome the Holy Father,” he said.
He said that the visit of the Holy Father was intended to be an occasion of great praise-giving but, unfortunately, there were people who were instead bent on marketing illegal merchandise.
The genuine capulana, he said, could be identified by the logo with the inscription ‘Hope, Peace and Reconciliation: Pope Francis, Mozambique 2019’ [‘Esperança, Paz e Reconciliação, Papa Francisco 2019]
“The official capulana has this logo,” he said, adding that there are two more capulanas for internal use, one brownish-yellow and one blue. The former will be worn by the choir.
Father Bogaio condemned the behaviour of the offenders, which, he said, did not bode well for the image of Mozambique and its people. “We are practically ruining our image, the image of the Mozambican people,” he complains.
In fact, Father Bogaio said, a foreigner visiting the country and finding counterfeit capulana for sale might conclude that Mozambicans were “‘ignorant’, because they even put the image of Pope Francis on a capulana that reads ‘Pope [Francisco] XVI’. Pope [Francisco] XVI does not exist.”
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.