Africa-Press – Angola. The MPLA, the ruling party in Angola, said there is no doubt that Angolans lost today, with the death of Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento, “an intrepid defender of their noble causes”.
In an information note, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) regrets the death, today at the age of 99, “of one of the great sons of Angola, His Eminence Dom Alexandre Cardeal do Nascimento, archbishop emeritus of Luanda”.
According to the statement, his vocational trajectory is associated with his political trajectory in Angola under colonial rule, marked by the struggle for national liberation until independence.
“Dom Alexandre Cardeal do Nascimento left his mark on the struggle for national liberation and the defense of the integrity and independence of the Republic of Angola, causes that led him to suffer deprivation of his freedom on more than one occasion,” the note states.
Among its achievements, the MPLA highlights the creation of the Catholic University of Angola, the reopening of Rádio Ecclesia, an Angolan Catholic broadcaster, and the resumption of several important evangelization infrastructures, giving greater scope to the Catholic Church.
A national and international reference, the information note highlights, Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento leaves behind a vast bibliography, standing out among the main Angolan authors, “leaving no doubt that the Angolan people today lose an intrepid defender of their noble causes”.
“In this moment of pain and mourning for Angola”, the MPLA hopes that the “patriotic spirit expressed in his words and actions will serve as inspiration to all Angolans in the joint effort to serve the people and make Angola grow”.
Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento, born on March 1, 1925, was a native of the province of Malanje, and was ordained a priest on December 20, 1952. He graduated in Philosophy and Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and in Civil Law from the University of Lisbon.
He dedicated himself to teaching in Luanda and was editor-in-chief of the Catholic newspaper “O Apostolado” between 1953 and 1956, having been implicated in 1957 due to his involvement in the cause of freedom of the Angolan people in the so-called “Processo dos Padres”, thus being forced by the Portuguese colonial authorities to take up residence in Lisbon, from where he returned ten years later.
In 1975, he was appointed bishop of Malanje and in 1977 he was promoted metropolitan archbishop of Lubango and was kidnapped by the then armed forces of UNITA, an opposition party, in the province of Cunene, where he was apostolic administrator of the diocese of Ondjiva, being released after an appeal from Pope John Paul II.
On January 5, 1983, he was named cardinal by Pope John Paul II, with the title of Cardinal-Priest of San Marco in Agro Laurentino.
He was transferred to the Archdiocese of Luanda in 1986, having resigned from the pastoral government of the archdiocese in 2001.
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