THE Catholic Archdiocese of Lusaka says the group calling itself the Minoresses of Divine Providence is not recognized by the Catholic Church and has ordered its members to stop presenting themselves as religious sisters. In a July 24, 2026 memorandum, Archbishop Alick Banda said the group has no ecclesiastical approval and its activities have no

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THE Catholic Archdiocese of Lusaka says the group calling itself the Minoresses of Divine Providence is not recognized by the Catholic Church and has ordered its members to stop presenting themselves as religious sisters.

In a July 24, 2026 memorandum, Archbishop Alick Banda said the group has no ecclesiastical approval and its activities have no Church authority.

Banda said the Minoresses broke away from the Sisters of Divine Providence, who themselves split from the Sisters of the Child Jesus of Kasama in 2015.

After failed reconciliation efforts, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples expelled 21 members from religious life in 2016, returning them to lay status.

Despite that, the former sisters continued to live as religious. Internal disputes later led to the formation of the Minoresses of Divine Providence in 2023, Banda said.

He said requests for recognition from the Archdiocese were rejected because approving the group would contradict the Holy See’s 2016 directive.

“The group presenting itself as ‘Minoresses of Divine Providence’ as well as ‘Sisters of Divine Providence’ are neither Catholic Institutes of Religious Life nor pious groups of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Lusaka,” Banda said.

He urged members of both groups to stop presenting themselves, or being treated, as Catholic religious sisters.

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