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Turning now to the news of a visit by Catholic Archbishop Léon Kalenga.  He’s the Apostolic Nuncio of Belize and El Salvador, and as the Ambassador for Pope Francis, he is the Vatican’s Diplomat to Central America. He was in Belize today, after Sister Barbara Flores – manager of Catholic Primary Schools, sent him an urgent invitation last week.  That’s when the Catholic Bishop Dorrick Wright issued a statement in favor of the school strike and telling parents to keep their kids home – which went against what Sister Barbara understood to be the official position for Catholic Schools. 

So Kalenga was here on important church and state business, and as the Holy See’s emissary, he paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Dean Barrow. 

That meeting was to have taken place at the Radisson Hotel, but at the last minute, it was changed to the Prime Minister’s Belize City office.

That shift did allow us to get an opportunity to speak with Archbishop Kalenga at the Radisson, and he shared briefly with us the reasons for his visit. Chief Among them is the failing health of Belizean Bishop Dorick Wright, and the very real possibility he will have to be replaced.

Here’s that conversation:

Reporter
"You have a meeting with the Prime Minister. Is that correct?"

Archbishop Léon Kalenga Badikebele - Apostolic Nuncio of Belize/El Salvador
"Yes, anytime I am here, I meet the authorities, I meet my bishops. I celebrated mass in the cathedral in the Parishes."

Reporter
"Is there anything specific on your agenda with the Prime Minister today, that you will be discussing?"

Archbishop Léon Kalenga Badikebele
"I am going to greet him, and to let him know that I am in the country, which is good that the authority knows that the Nuncio is around. And I will be listening to him. He's the one briefing me, because now that I am coming from the Vatican, I'll be taking part in a meeting with Jubilee for all the Nuncios of the world. After that meeting, I am in the country to let the Bishop know, and the people, that I am back, and that Pope is sending his blessing, sending his best wishes to the people of God, to all the Belizeans."

Reporter
"There is a rift within the Catholic Church here in Belize. Is there any truth a request being made for the removal of Bishop Dorick Wright from his position?"

Archbishop Léon Kalenga Badikebele
“Removal is not the word. Bishop Dorick is still our Bishop. He is sick, and the wisdom - human wisdom - teaches us to look after our sick, to look after our old people, to look after the children. All these are topics I am going to touch. The Vatican itself is now looking seriously into the matter to see how to arrange the succession. And after Dorick, we can come in and take his place; that we are working on."

Reporter
"So, it has to do with his illness and not necessarily by a request from Government, or any other institution."

Archbishop Léon Kalenga Badikebele
"No, it has to do with illness because, you know, the Catholic Bishop has to stand down at 75, but he is 71. It has to do with his conditions now. It is also charitable that when a Bishop is sick, we look seriously at his sickness, and how to - all this time we've been looking after that. We give priority to that, to the good conditions of the Bishop, and that's why the auxiliary Bishop had been appointed."