The ruling Democratic Progressive Party-DPP has apologized to the Roman Catholic Church over the attacking remarks on Pope Francis that were made by one of the party’s members Hophmally Makande during a rally at Bangwe in Blantyre.

Makande is on record to have said that the Catholic leader Pope Francis whose real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio must resign first because he is too old to govern the state of the church than President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.

“A Dausi muli pompano, anthu akuti a Mutharika atule pansi udindo chifukwa akula, Papa alindi zaka 10?, Papa ali ndi zaka 10?. Papa ndi wankulu kuposa Mutharika. (Mr. Dausi your right here, people are saying Mutharika must step down due to old age, is the Pope 10 years old? Is the Pope 10 years old? Mutharika is younger than the Pope so he will not step down unless Pope does,” said Makande.

Makande’s remarks attracted criticisms from all corners with many demanding an apology from the ruling DPP.

Speaking in an interview with state controlled Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC radio 1), DPP Spokesperson Nicholas Dausi who is also the Minister Information and Communications Technology described Makande’s statement as erroneous.

Dausi said the party will not condone such kind of politics.

He further assured the Roman Catholic Church that such an incident will never happen again.