Papua New Guinea: Pope’s Statement  Calling for Compassionate Treatment of Alleged Witches Not Enough

  By Leo Igwe 

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches welcomes the condemnation by Pope Francis of sorcery-related violence in Papua New Guinea. During his visit to the country, Francis drew attention to the cases of women who were accused of sorcery and subsequently attacked, abused, and shunned by families. Papua New Guinea is one of the places in the world where witch-hunting persists. Alleged witches or sorcerers have been attacked, or killed, as was the case in early modern Europe. The pope urged the church in Papua New Guinea to treat victims with care and compassion. This statement is encouraging and sends some right signals. But it is not enough because the catholic church in Papua New Guinea and other places like Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, etc is a part of the problem.

Although witch-hunting predates the introduction of the catholic faith to these regions, the teachings and practices of the catholic church have reinforced witchcraft accusations and witch-hunting. The pope’s statement would have had enormous weight and significance if Francis had used this opportunity to apologize for the role of the catholic in witch-hunting in early modern Europe and the contemporary world. Many Catholic churches and priests are at the forefront of accusation, demonization, and persecution of supposed witches in many places across the globe. The pope does not only represent the church in the West. Francis is the head and leader of catholic churches and priests, including those in Africa, Oceania and other places where witch persecution rages.

The pope should have used the opportunity to urge catholic priests and the population against teachings in the Bible that sanction the persecution of alleged witches, like Exodus 22: 18. This verse, which states: “Suffer not a witch to live”, permits Catholics and other Christians to torture and murder suspected witches with impunity. Francis should have faulted other scriptural provisions that sanctify fights against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12) because these provisions make the catholic church a legitimizer of witch hunts.

More importantly, the pope should have used the opportunity to announce the abolition of the catholic church’s exorcism ministry and an end to demon hunts in churches. The catholic church teaches that demons exist. Catholics believe that the devil can possess humans. Many catholic dioceses have an office of exorcist. And many catholic priests carry out exorcism as a part of their ministry and everyday activity. 

Priests engage in demon hunts, the expulsion of the devil, and the deliverance of those believed to be possessed by demons. Witch hunt is a form of demon hunt, and demon hunt is a form of witch hunt.

Pope Francis’ statement calling for care and compassionate treatment of suspected witches amounts to nothing if the catholic church continues to reinforce witchcraft and other occult beliefs. The Catholic church will not be a force for good in this case or a part of the solution; it cannot treat suspected witches with ‘closeness, compassion and tenderness’ as the pope directed if the church continues to enable demon hunts in Papua New Guinea and other places across the globe. 

Leo Igwe directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches and wrote his doctoral thesis on witchcraft accusations in Northern Ghana.

Leo Igwe

Leo Igwe (born July 26, 1970) is a Nigerian human rights advocate and humanist. Igwe is a former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and has specialized in campaigning against and documenting the impacts of child witchcraft accusations. He holds a Ph.D from the Bayreuth International School of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, having earned a graduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. Igwe’s human rights advocacy has brought him into conflict with high-profile witchcraft believers, such as Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, because of his criticism of what he describes as their role in the violence and child abandonment that sometimes result from accusations of witchcraft. His human rights fieldwork has led to his arrest on several occasions in Nigeria. Igwe has held leadership roles in the Nigerian Humanist Movement, Atheist Alliance International, and the Center For Inquiry—Nigeria. In 2012, Igwe was appointed as a Research Fellow of the James Randi Educational Foundation, where he continues working toward the goal of responding to what he sees as the deleterious effects of superstition, advancing skepticism throughout Africa and around the world. In 2014, Igwe was chosen as a laureate of the International Academy of Humanism and in 2017 received the Distinguished Services to Humanism Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union. Igwe was raised in southeastern Nigeria, and describes his household as being strictly Catholic in the midst of a “highly superstitious community,” according to an interview in the Gold Coast Bulletin.[1] At age twelve, Igwe entered the seminary, beginning to study for the Catholic priesthood, but later was confused by conflicting beliefs between Christian theology and the beliefs in witches and wizards that are “entrenched in Nigerian society.”[1] After a period of research and internal conflict due to doubts about the “odd blend of tribalism and fundamentalist Christianity he believes is stunting African development,” a 24-year-old Igwe resigned from the seminary and relocated to Ibadan, Nigeria