Ali Mambule
22 October 2009
Kampala — PETER Bakka, the Catholic priest who was at the centre of the false miracle child, has apologised for misleading the public and causing embarrassment to the Catholic Church.
Bakka expressed regret before Masaka bishop John Baptist Kaggwa at a press conference held at the bishop's residence in Kitovu in Masaka on Tuesday.
"I wish to apologise for the recent turbulence rotating around the so-called baby who is said to have been born with a Bible, palm leaf and a stick in her hands. I feel deeply sorry for my involvement in this saga. I was misled," Bakka said.
Earlier this month, hundreds of people flocked Bujja village in Mukungwe sub-county to see the baby.
Bakka was at the centre of the saga in the company of Joseph Mayanja and his wife Sylvia Nassimbwa who came from Nabigasa in Rakai district.
Mayanja and Nassimbwa, the alleged parents of the child, claimed that they received revelations from the Virgin Mary not to unveil the baby without permission from God.
When the residents insisted on seeing the child, Nassimbwa claimed that Mary had taken the child to heaven. The Police intervened and arrested both parents and Fr. Bakka but released them after they recorded statements at Masaka Police Station.
Bishop Kaggwa welcomed Fr. Bakka's apology but insisted that the church had a procedure through which such matters are resolved. "If Fr. Bakka's apology is sincere, there is no reason why he should not be forgiven," Kaggwa said.
He, however, said it would take the church time to erase the experience from people's memory. The bishop also expressed dismay over continuous claims of revelations by people in Masaka diocese.
Kaggwa warned people against being duped citing the case in Sembabule, where a woman identified as Nannyonga, deceived people that she could cure AIDS using soil.
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