Chad's government is willing to discuss an expulsion order for a
bishop who apparently criticised the management of oil revenues, the
Vatican's missionary news agency reported Saturday.
"The
government is open to dialogue to resolve the situation in a positive
way," the report in the official Fides agency quoted local Church
sources as saying, adding that the hope was for "good relations between
Church and State".
The report also quoted its sources as saying
that the controversial homily by Michele Russo -- an Italian citizen and
bishop of Chad's oil-rich southern region of Doba -- had been
mistranslated from French by a local radio station.
"Monsignor
Russo's homily was broadcast by a local radio which provided a
translation from French into Ngambay that was not perfectly in line with
the bishop's thinking and used words that he did not use," the sources
said.
The government on Friday said it was giving Russo a week
starting from Sunday to quit the country for "activities incompatible
with his status" after a sermon he gave on September 30 was broadcast by
a private radio station.
Chad's communications council said the
broadcast was "likely to disturb public order" and was against the law
but provided no more details.
Chad, which only began to produce
oil in 2003, currently produces on average around 120,000 barrels per
day, according to government estimates from 2011.
Oil revenue has
allowed the poverty-stricken central African country to modernise its
army, upgrade its roads and build numerous public buildings.
But
there has been criticism of the government in some quarters for not
doing enough to better the lives of ordinary Chadians with the windfall.