Catholic Church temporarily pulls out of CAN

Catholic Church of Nigeria has withdrawn its membership from Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

However the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, Wednesday, debunked speculations that the conference has pulled out of the National Christian Body, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), over alleged undisclosed issues.

The Diocesan Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta, Monsignor Christopher Ajala, at a news conference stated that the Catholic church suspended its activities in CAN because it was too close to government.

The Director Communication, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Rev Fr Ralph Madu, while speaking to a reporter of one of the national dailies maintained that the CBCN did not pull out of CAN, and that, the body was only trying to sought out some issues with National Christian body.

He mentioned that the body only withdrew temporarily from CAN, which will only last for few weeks, adding that, there was no squabble between the two religious bodies.

According to him, “how can we pull out of CAN, we are just trying to iron out some issues with them, which are not palatable to us and its only going to last for few weeks”

“We will always be in support of the National Body; some of our Bishops are head CAN in some states, like, Owerri, among others”.