Bishops in Togo denounce church closures, vaccine mandates

The Catholic Episcopal Conference of Togo (CET) has blasted the government of the West African nation for trampling on the religious rights of believers in its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. 

"The systematic closure of places of worship, used as a means to fight against the transmission of the virus, is based on an exclusively biomedical approach to the pandemic which ignores its psychological, anthropological, social and spiritual reality," said a September 24 statement by the CET.

Togolese officials once again closed places of worship on September 17.

The government had originally announced on September 9 that worship sites would be shuttered the very next day.

But the CET immediately consulted with state officials and was able to get the restriction postponed for another week. 

The Togolese bishops voiced serious reservations about the closures, saying their churches are "places where preventive measures are mostly respected compared to other places that are not affected by the same measures".

Opposition to vaccine mandates

Some Catholics leaders in Togo, such as Archbishop Nicodème Barrigah-Bénissan of Lomé, have encouraged people to get the anti-Covid vaccine.

But the national episcopal conference has strongly opposed vaccine mandates, saying vaccination must remain voluntary.

"The coercive measures of the authorities, such as prohibiting access to public and administrative buildings without a vaccination card, the requirement to present proof of vaccination for submitting files to acquire identity cards and for legalization of documents, etc., do they not constitute serious violations of the basic rights of citizens?" ask the bishops in the CET statement of September 24.

Heated exchange

Bishop Dominique Guigbile of Dapaong on September 22 denounced public authorities for spreading misinformation about closing places of worship.

In fact, the minister of higher education, Majesté Ihou Wateba, had just a day earlier blamed the closures on Catholic and Muslim leaders.

The minister said it was because the clerics oppose mandatory vaccination that places of worship had to be closed.  

"If authorities of this rank are thus distilling venom (false information) on the public media, it is because, in Togo, ridicule does not kill," said the bishop of Dapaong.

He claimed the government had invited the religious authorities to a meeting during which "they were told that places of worship must be closed or that access must be made subject to the presentation of proof of vaccination".

The bishop said at that point "religious leaders, in order to preserve the freedom of citizens with regard to the vaccine, said that they would rather see places of worship closed than require a vaccination card from the faithful to participate in worship".

Togo has an estimated population of 8.5 million people. 

As of September 28, it had registered just over 25,300 cases of COVID-19, according to Worldometer.

The virus has killed 227 people in the country. And there are currently 2,355 active cases of infection.