Religion

23, March 2025

Pope Francis is discharged from Rome hospital ⁰

Pope Francis has appeared at his window of the Gemelli hospital in Rome and offered a blessing for the first time since being admitted on 14 February.

The 88-year-old pontiff was discharged minutes later and doctors say he will need at least two months of rest at the Vatican.

During the past five weeks, he presented “two very critical episodes” where his “life was in danger”, Dr Sergio Alfieri, one of the doctors treating the Pope, said.

Pope Francis was never intubated and always remained alert and oriented, Dr Alfieri said. Even though the Pope is not completely healed, he no longer has pneumonia and will return to work as soon as possible, if the trend continues, doctors say.

A crowd of people gathered outside the hospital on Sunday, waiting for the Pope to appear.

“When I saw him I felt, to be honest, a little relieved,” said Bishop Larry Kulick, from the Diocese of Greensburg in the US state of Pennsylvania. “I felt just overjoyed to see him.”

“I cried all the time because the love we breathe in this little square of this hospital was like heaven,” said Ilaria Della Bidia, a singer from Rome.

Ana Matos from Brazil said she “just arrived from Brazil today” and arrived outside the hospital “30 seconds before he appeared”. She said that “it was an amazing feeling, like when I had my son. I was so happy to see him healthy and I could see him smile”.

The Pope had only previously been seen by the public once since he was admitted to hospital, in a photograph released by the Vatican last week, which showed him praying in a hospital chapel.

Earlier this month, an audio recording of Pope Francis was played in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.

His voice was breathless as he thanked the Catholic faithful for their prayers.

Pope Francis has spent 12 years as leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

He has suffered a number of health issues throughout his life, including having part of one of his lungs removed at age 21, making him more prone to infections.

Source: BBC

20, March 2025

Archbishop Andrew Nkea urges direct talks with Anglophone separatists ⁰

According to the Archbishop of the Bamenda archdiocese, the Yaoundé government needs to engage direct talks with separatists in the country’s two English-speaking regions if a sustainable peace is to come.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya was speaking in Yaoundé on March 18 during a meeting to assess the ground covered in implementing the resolutions of the September 29-October 4 Major National Dialogue to resolve the crisis.

Nkea told participants at the meeting that was chaired by Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute that separatist fighters “believe the government is not truly committed to solving this problem.”

“Some feel that while many declarations are made on radio, television, and in newspapers, little is actually implemented,” the archbishop said.

The separatist crisis in Cameroon began in 2016 when lawyers and teachers in the English-speaking regions protested against the marginalization by the predominantly French-speaking government. The situation escalated into a full-blown separatist conflict, with armed groups in the northwest and southwest regions seeking independence for a new state called Ambazonia.

The conflict has led to the deaths of more than 6,000 people, the displacement of over a million, and the destruction of property.

Cameroon has two main language groups—French and English—due to its colonial history. Over time, the Anglophone regions have expressed concerns about being treated unfairly, with their identity and rights often ignored or suppressed.

President Paul Biya admitted the assimilation plan to Moh Ibrahim on November 12, 2019 during the Second Paris Peace Summit in France.

“We tried assimilating their system into the majority francophone system but because of identity differences, it failed,” Biya said.

This deep-rooted tension eventually led to the open conflict.

The Major National Dialogue proposed a broad tapestry of measures to resolve the crisis. These included the adoption of a special status for the two Anglophone regions; the restoration of the House of Traditional Chiefs; the rapid integration of ex-combatants into society; accelerating the decentralization process to empower local authorities and improve governance; implementing measures to boost local development and national growth, including improving infrastructure like roads to support small farmers; as well as providing skills training and deradicalization programs for those affected by the conflict.

While admitting that significant progress has been recorded in several of these commitments, the Bamenda archbishop, one of the religious leaders appointed as member of the committee to follow up the implantation of the dialogue resolutions, urged the government to recognize the need to engage directly with core separatists.

“The boys [separatist fighters] feel you are merely talking among yourselves or to your friends,” the archbishop warned.

He said the Church can only facilitate such a dialogue, but can’t make any pledges on behalf of the state.

“We can only go out with camwood, wash and rub their feet, pray with them, and urge them to stop killing their own,” Nkea said.

He further revealed that both Ambazonian fighters and the leadership they have met believe that some members of the government want the crisis to continue and are actively obstructing genuine dialogue. This perception, he warned, fuels distrust and complicates efforts towards a peaceful resolution.

The archbishop noted that some of the fighters have indicated a willingness to attend follow-up committee meetings, suggesting this demonstrates “a willingness, albeit cautious, from some actors to engage in the dialogue process.”

Nkea condemned the continued use of force as a way of resolving the conflict.

“All wars, including the First and Second World Wars, ended at the negotiating table. The Ambazonians are ready for meaningful dialogue, and we, as religious leaders, can facilitate it,” he stated.

Dion commended the efforts of the religious leaders, even as he extolled the achievements of his government in the implementation of the Major National Dialogue resolutions.

The prime minister said the decentralization process has been sped up, with the institution of Regional Councils in the eight francophone regions of the country and Regional Assemblies in the two English-speaking regions.

In the area of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR), Dion announced that at least 3,500 ex-fighters have dropped their weapons and are now being deradicalized and given life skills at various DDR centers in the two regions.

The prime minister noted further that legal action has already been taken against some separatist leaders in the diaspora whom the government blames for manipulating the youths to take up arms in the first place.

Noting that peace was gradually returning to the two regions, he pointed to the population’s increasing discomfort with the war, saying it was evidence that the people have rejected violence.

But religious leaders and conflict resolution experts have warned that if the root causes of the conflict are not addressed, the country could end up with what’s known as “negative peace” – a term the refers to a situation where there is an absence of direct violence or open conflict, but the underlying causes of the conflict – like injustice, inequality, or oppression – remain unresolved.

This, experts say, would be a recipe for future confrontations.

Source: Crux

16, March 2025

Pope Francis seen in photo for first time since admitted to hospital ⁰

The Vatican released the first photograph of Pope Francis on Sunday since his hospitalisation over a month ago, showing the pontiff celebrating mass earlier in the day from the chapel in his hospital suite.

The release of the photo was significant, as the Argentine pope has not been seen in public since being admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on February 14 for pneumonia in both lungs, which for weeks doctors considered critical.

The photo shows the 88-year-old pope, bare-headed without his customary white skullcap and wearing a white robe and purple stole. He is seated in a wheelchair in front of a simple altar with a crucifix on the wall.

The Vatican said it had been taken Sunday morning.

Taken from behind Francis’ right side, his face is not fully visible but his eyes are open as he looks in a downward direction.

“This morning Pope Francis concelebrated the Holy Mass in the chapel of the apartment on the tenth floor of the Gemelli Polyclinic,” the Vatican press office wrote in the photograph’s caption.

Concelebration is the joint celebration of mass by senior clerics.

‘Our bodies are weak’

Since his hospitalisation, Francis has been unable to preside over mass at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Nor has he personally delivered the Angelus prayer that follows the mass to the faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square.

But earlier Sunday, in an Angelus message published by the Vatican, he thanked well-wishers while acknowledging his fragile health.

“I am sharing these thoughts with you while I am facing a period of trial, and I join with so many brothers and sisters who are sick: fragile, at this time, like me,” wrote Francis.

“Our bodies are weak but, even like this, nothing can prevent us from loving, praying, giving ourselves, being for each other, in faith, shining signs of hope,” he added.

The message marked the second Sunday of Lent, a 40-day period of prayer and reflection leading up to Easter.

Francis has improved steadily over the past week, the Vatican saying Saturday his condition continued to be stable, although he still required therapy to be administered from the hospital.

Although he has yet to appear at the window of his papal suite on the 10th floor of the Gemelli hospital, this has not dissuaded a steady stream of well-wishers from gathering, including tango dancers and dozens of children on Sunday.

About a dozen couples in street clothes danced the tango under grey skies in front of a throng of cameras near the hospital entrance.

“With this tango, he must be discharged,” enthused dancer Daiana Guspero, 38, who like the pope hailed from Buenos Aires.

“I want him to feel our energy, our love for tango and for an Argentine pope,” she told AFP.

‘The pope of the children’

Earlier, a group of young scouts from a Catholic group stood by a statue of former Pope John Paul II at the entrance, holding yellow and white balloons and vainly striving to catch a glimpse of the pope.

Group leader, Valerio Santobonio, 23 said the five to seven-year-olds did not quite yet grasp who the pope is, nor his health situation.

Nevertheless, he added, their visit was “a bit like giving them a window onto a wider stage of Christian life”.

Other children had arrived in the early morning from an impoverished town near Naples to deliver a letter to Francis, said Andrea Lacomini from UNICEF, which organised the excursion.

“He loves children, he is the pope of the children, so we are waiting for him. We’re sure he will get better,” Lacomini told AFP.

“We need an important leader like him, because at this time there aren’t many heroes in the world,” he added.

“He’s the only one who talks about peace.”

Francis addressed his youngest well-wishers in his message.

“I know that many children are praying for me; some of them came here today to ‘Gemelli’ as a sign of closeness,” he wrote.

“Thank you, dearest children! The pope loves you and is always waiting to meet you.”

‘Loving care’

Last week the Vatican signalled that Francis was out of immediate danger after a series of breathing crises earlier in his hospitalisation had sparked fears for the Jesuit’s life.

Although the Vatican has said that Francis continues to work from his hospital suite when able, his absence is particularly felt as Easter approaches.

Easter, the holiest period in the Christian calendar when the leader of the world’s Catholics presides over a busy programme of events.

In his written message Sunday — which also called for peace in war-torn countries including Ukraine, Myanmar and Sudan — Francis again thanked those caring for and praying for him.

“How much light shines, in this sense, in hospitals and places of care! How much loving care illuminates the rooms, the corridors, the clinics, the places where the humblest services are performed!” he wrote.

And in a message sent by the Vatican’s secretary of state, he offered his condolences to families of the victims and survivors of the deadly fire in a North Macedonian nightclub.

Source: AFP

5, March 2025

Bishop Bibi, journalist, driver “all doing well”: Diocesan Official ⁰

Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi of the Catholic Diocese of Buea is in stable condition, and is recovering “well” alongside a journalist and driver following a grisly accident he was involved in on February 28, the Chancellor of the Cameroonian Diocese has said.

In a statement ACI Africa obtained, Fr. Michael Kengnjoh says that Bishop Bibi who was accompanied by a journalist was involved in the accident while travelling to participate in the Consecration of Bishop-elect Justin Georges Ebengue of the Catholic Diocese of Yokadouma.

According to Fr. Michael, the Cameroonian Bishop, who appeared injured went on to attend the Saturday, March 1 Consecration after a brief medical examination.

“I wish to notify you that on Friday February 28, 2025, Bishop Michael Bibi while approaching Yokadouma, had an accident. The car tumbled twice and regained stability,” Fr. Michael says in the statement dated Sunday, March 2.

He adds, in reference to Bishop Bibi, his driver, and the journalist, “They continued to Yokadouma, where after a brief medical examination, they attended the Consecration Mass and then moved to Yaoundé, for further medical attention.”

The three, according to the Chancellor, “are all doing well as per the medical reports.”

“The Bishop, however, has some pains on the chest and head which are subsiding. Mr. Ottop has some pain on the neck, and the driver has no problem at all,” the Cameroonian Catholic Priest says, and adds, “Let us continue to pray for God’s protection, healing, and guidance on them.”

Source: aciafrica

25, February 2025

How Biya and Archbishop Nkea protected the sanctity of the family in Cameroon ⁰

Biya did not sign any Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law and he also did not give homosexuality a life sentence. But the “old fox” was actively involved in many behind-the-scenes actions with powerful religious voices including Archbishop Andrew Nkea to prevent former US President Joe Biden from making numerous strides to uplift the LGBTQ community deep within the Central African region.

Joe Biden’s pro-LGBTQ highlights included numerous professionals he reportedly assigned to US federal agencies. His administration made numerous comments in support of the LGBTQ community and on April 15, 2021, Biden announced that his administration was sending a gay person, Christopher John Lamora, to be the next United States Ambassador to Cameroon.

The decision did not go down well with many people in Cameroon. In Cameroon just like in many African countries, the business of being gay is a risky business. It is not fashionable in Cameroon for a man to bend over forward for another man but the Biden Administration wanted to change that. African men love their beautiful women and their best style is the missionary style.

The fight to undermine the American gay stance was not easy and everyone in the West African country was aware that the American gay ambassador would leave the country bruised and frustrated. His business lacked a market in Cameroon.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that on April 19, 2021, John Lamora’s nomination was sent to the US Senate. Hearings on his nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 9, 2021. The committee reported him favorably on June 24, 2021 and on December 18, 2021; Lamora was confirmed by the United States Senate by voice vote.

The gay arrived in Cameroon on March 5, 2022 and presented his credentials to foreign minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella who is not really young on March 21, 2022. An unprecedented fracas had occurred in Yaoundé, the nation’s capital. Biden and his men knew that if Cameroon fell, the entire CEMAC region would fall too!

The Metropolitan Archbishop of Bamenda, His Grace Archbishop Andrew Nkea fired the first salvos and sounded a note of caution to the regime in Yaoundé. Archbishop Andrew Nkea also sent powerful signals to the Vatican saying marriage was a union between a man and a woman and anything outside that was witchcraft in its superlative degree.

Many CPDM regime insiders were concerned about a gay US ambassador in Yaoundé and the impact that may have on the wider CEMAC region. Four secret meetings were held inside the Unity Palace on how to deal with the situation without destroying the long standing relations with the United States of America.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the CPDM wise men supported by a well placed Cameroonian citizen in the US successfully identified the so-called “husband” of Ambassador Christopher John Lamora and included his name on the list of people banned from entering Cameroon. Etoudi decided not to make it public for fear of reprisal from the Biden administration. Cameroon will not tolerate homosexuality and the business of gay sex was not lucrative in Cameroon.

Life in Yaoundé became boring for Ambassador John Lamora to the extent that he was heard murmuring privately that he wanted his tenure to come to end for him to leave. Yaoundé had become a massive living Hell to him. He had a choice – Enjoy organic sex with a beautiful Cameroonian lady or spend time masturbating in his bathroom.

His saving grace came when Donald Trump, a man who has a bone to pick with homosexuals, asked all of them to resign and return home where they can engage in their ungodly habit.

President Biya and Archbishop Nkea successfully protected the sanctity of the family in Cameroon through strategic thinking and determination. Homosexual sex is not admired in Yaoundé. It is hated more than the garbage heaps which have become the town’s hallmark.

Yaoundé might be dirty and it is disgusting. But throwing homosexual sex into the mix will ruin any morality which still exists in the country. Who says Biya is not working? Fighting homosexuals is not a walk in the park. Biya has won a battle. He however still has many more challenges to deal with. He has rolled back homosexual sex in Yaoundé; at 92, will he be able to roll back the opposition that is advancing to Etoudi?

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

25, February 2025

Rev Father Nixon Mullah, S.S.J., dies at 51 ⁰

A memorial Mass for Josephite Father Nixon Mullah will be offered Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at St. Luke in Washington, D.C.

Father Mullah, who earned a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, died Feb. 18 in his native Cameroon following a battle with cancer that lasted several years. He was 51.

Father Mullah was ordained to the priesthood in 2005 for the Archdiocese of Urbino, Italy. Attracted to the ministry of the Josephites, he joined the Baltimore-based Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 2007.

He served as an associate pastor of St. Francis Xavier in Baltimore (2007-10) and was vice rector of St. Joseph Seminary in Washington, D.C.; rector of St. Martin de Porres House of Studies in Ibadan, Nigeria, and pastor of Holy Family in Baytown, Texas, before being appointed rector of St. Joseph Seminary in 2019.

Source: Catholic Review

24, February 2025

Pope Francis Critical Condition: Cardinals in Rome to pray rosary at St. Peter’s ⁰

With Pope Francis remaining in critical condition fighting a complex respiratory infection and bilateral pneumonia, the cardinals and curial officials in Rome have organized a rosary and special Mass for the pontiff.

The Vicariate of Rome announced Monday that at 7 p.m. local time, the vicar of Rome, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, will celebrate Mass for Pope Francis’s health at the Santa Maria Addolorata church in Buenos Aires square in Rome.

Reina, who celebrated a separate Mass for the pope’s health during a Feb. 23 Mass in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, will celebrate Monday’s Mass “in communion with the Argentinian community residing in Rome,” the statement said.

He has also invited all parish and religious communities to continue praying for Pope Francis, “so that his health is restored.”

After Monday’s Mass, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, will lead a rosary at 9 p.m. local time for Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square.

All cardinals residing in Rome and all curial officials and collaborators, and all collaborators and officials in the Diocese of Rome have been invited to attend the rosary to pray for the pope’s health.

In 2005, Pope John Paul II died while a rosary was being prayed for him in St. Peter’s Square, led by Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who at the time served as the sostituto, or substitute, of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, a position akin to a chief of staff.

On that occasion, the rosary also began at 9p.m. local time, and John Paul II died at 9:47p.m., with Sandri making the announcement publicly to those gathered in the square.

A medical bulletin published by the Vatican Sunday night said Pope Francis remained in “critical” condition after suffering “prolonged respiratory crisis” on Saturday, as well as an anemia that improved after he received two units of concentrated red blood cells.

The pope continues to suffer from thrombocytopenia, in which his blood platelet count is low, and continues to receive oxygen through his nose.

On Sunday doctors said he was also suffering from “initial, mild” signs of kidney failure, leading to concerns the pope could develop sepsis due to the nature of his complex infection he is fighting, and the large dose of medications he is receiving.

However, doctors said that the condition of his kidneys, for the time being, was “under control.”

In a Feb. 24 statement, the Vatican said Pope Francis “had a calm night,” that he slept well “and was resting,” but his prognosis remains unclear.

Pope Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital Feb. 14 for treatment of bronchitis and was later diagnosed with a polymicrobial respiratory infection with viral, bacterial and fungal elements, and he subsequently developed pneumonia in both lungs.

Doctors have said that the 88-year-old pontiff remains alert and aware, and is in “good humor” despite the severity of his condition.

Further information from the pope’s medical team on his current condition will be provided by the Vatican Monday evening.

Source: Crux

19, February 2025

The Holy Father has pneumonia in both lungs ⁰

Pope Francis, who was admitted to hospital last week, has developed pneumonia in both of his lungs, the Vatican said Tuesday, adding that the 88-year-old was in “good spirits”.

“The laboratory tests, chest X-ray, and the Holy Father’s clinical condition continue to present a complex picture”, the Vatican said in a statement.

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital last Friday for bronchitis, but the Vatican on Monday said it was changing his treatment following tests.

It said Tuesday that a “polymicrobial infection” which has come on top of “bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis, and which required the use of cortisone antibiotic therapy, makes therapeutic treatment more complex”.

“The follow-up chest CT scan which the Holy Father underwent this afternoon… demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia, which required additional drug therapy,” it said.

The pontiff had part of his right lung cut away when he was 21, after developing pleurisy that almost killed him.

The Vatican had already cancelled a papal audience on Saturday and said he would not attend a mass on Sunday, although it has yet to announce plans for his weekly Angelus prayer, held on Sunday.

“Nevertheless, Pope Francis is in good spirits,” it added.

The pope spent his fifth day in hospital alternating rest with prayer and reading texts, the Vatican said.

Pilgrims pray

Francis, the head of the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to hospital after struggling for several days to read his texts in public.

It is the latest of a series of health issues for the Jesuit, who has undergone hernia and colon surgery since 2021 and uses a wheelchair due to pain in his knee.

Among the pilgrims and tourists gathered in Saint Peter’s Square on Tuesday, many said they were praying for the pope’s recovery.

“I hope that he’s getting better soon,” Birgit Jungreuthmayer, a 48-year-old Austrian tourist, told AFP.

Others gathered outside the Gemelli hospital, holding candles or saying prayers.

“I came to say a prayer for the pope so that he may recover soon. I send him my best wishes”, said Jacqueline Troncoso, a Bolivian resident in Rome.

The Vatican published drawings done by children in the hospital for Francis, as well as letters from parents asking him to pray for their sick offspring.

Francis “gives thanks for the closeness he feels at this time and asks, with a grateful heart, that we continue to pray for him”, it said.

Active schedule

Despite his health troubles, Francis remains a very active pontiff, with a busy weekly schedule and regular overseas trips.

In September 2024, he completed a four-nation Asia-Pacific tour, the longest of his papacy by duration and distance.

A source within the pope’s entourage had told AFP Monday that Francis was admitted after a “very busy” two weeks, during which “he was weakened” — but insisted there was no alarm.

Francis followed last Sunday’s mass on television from hospital and sent a written address for the Angelus.

“I would have liked to be among you but, as you know, I am here at the Gemelli hospital because I still need some treatment for my bronchitis,” Francis wrote.

The Jesuit has left open the option of resigning if he became unable to carry out his duties.

His predecessor, Benedict XVI, stunned the world in 2013 by becoming the first pope since the Middle Ages to step down, citing his ailing health.

But in a memoir published last year, Francis wrote that he did “not have any cause serious enough to make me think of resigning”.

Stepping down is a “distant possibility” that would be justified only in the event of “a serious physical impediment”, he wrote.

In an autobiography published last month, he said that despite his ailments, “I carry on”.

“The reality is, quite simply, that I am old,” he said.

Source: AFP

17, February 2025

Vatican: The Holy Father resting, stable after first night in hospital ⁰

After being admitted to the hospital Friday for treatment of what the Vatican initially described as bronchitis, Pope Francis is stable and has been prescribed complete rest while being treated for a respiratory infection.

He was described by a Vatican spokesman as being “serene” and “in good humor” Friday night after his admittance to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, spending the evening reading newspapers.

A statement Saturday morning said the pope had slept well during the night, and in the morning ate breakfast and read some newspapers while receiving treatment and awaiting the results of further tests.

On Saturday evening, the Vatican said Pope Francis, while admitted with a fever, no longer showed any signs of having a fever and that further testing during the day “confirmed a respiratory infection.”

His treatment, the Vatican said, was modified slightly “based on further microbiological findings.”

Laboratory exams Saturday showed “an improvement in some values,” the Vatican said, but did not offer further details.

The pope received the Eucharist Saturday morning and spent the day alternating between rest, praying and reading.

In order to facilitate a full recovery, doctors, the statement said, “have prescribed absolute rest,” meaning he will not give his scheduled Sunday, Feb. 16, Angelus address, however, the text of the speech will be distributed for publication.

Some of his events for this weekend’s Jubilee for Artists and the World of Culture have been cancelled due to the pope’s hospitalization, and his Sunday Mass for the event will now be celebrated by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

Francis was also updated on the many well-wishes and expressions of prayer and solidarity that have been conveyed since he was admitted and has asked that faithful continue to pray for him.

The 88-year-old pontiff was admitted to the Gemelli Hospital Friday at the end of his regularly scheduled audiences that day, after around two weeks of struggling with a bronchitis that forced him to take his private audiences and meetings at his residence, rather than the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

This marks the fourth time he has been admitted to Gemelli, where popes traditionally go for medical treatment, following colon surgery in 2021, a stay for bronchitis in April 2023, and surgery to repair an abdominal hernia in June 2023.

He has also suffered two falls in recent months, once in December resulting in a bruised chin, and once in January that caused an injury to his arm, requiring it to be placed in a sling for several days.

It is unclear how long the pope will remain in the hospital, but it is expected that he will stay for several days.

Source: Crux

6, February 2025

Roman Catholic Bishops increasingly worried as Ambazonia conflict intensifies ⁰

Catholic bishops in Cameroon have raised alarm over the ongoing suffering of Cameroonians in the conflict-ridden Northwest and Southwest regions.

For eight years, separatists have been fighting to form a breakaway state named Ambazonia. It started with strikes by teachers and lawyers in the two regions demanding autonomy for the Anglosaxon education system and Common Law all practiced in the two regions. The government responded with lethal force, and what started as peaceful protests turned violent. Separatist groups emerged, declaring the independence of “Ambazonia”.

The government’s military crackdown led to an ongoing armed conflict. According to the International Crisis Group, at least 6000 people have been killed and more than a million forced from their homes.

Catholic bishops in the Central African country are now expressing discomfort with the war that has refused to abate, and which has caused so much pain and anguish to millions of people.

In “recent times, the anxieties of the vast majority of Cameroonians have been transformed into cries of despair at the misery they are living through and the degradation of our beautiful country, Cameroon. Our consciences as pastors and citizens cannot remain indifferent to these cries of distress. For from the north to the south, and from the east to the west of Cameroon, we are all brothers, “the clerics said in a communiqué that sanctioned their Annual Conference that took place in Buea, Southwest region from January 4 to January 11, 2025.

“The crisis in the northwest and southwest regions, as well as the unrest in the far north, is certainly being contained, but it still remains and continues to cause the loss of so many lives.”

“In the northwest region in particular, where reconstruction had begun, the violence continues with guerrilla groups wreaking havoc, sometimes even routing overwhelming military forces,” they said.

They complained about the ‘ghost town operations’ which usually took place every Monday, but now include Saturdays. These are days separatists have declared that no activities would take place in the two regions-an effort to assert their presence and control.

The bishops suggested that the continuing violence could be sustained by “people with entrenched economic interests” who might be getting “scandalously rich.”

“Yet, it’s clear that, as with any conflict, NOSO war is ruinous and destructive for a country. It continues to breed divisions and resentments, hatreds and settlings of scores,” the Bishops said.

Survivors of the war-many of whom have found refuge in safer French-speaking regions, have been telling gruesome stories of the pain they endured before escaping to safety.

Thelma Ayafor, 19, woke up on September 29, 2019 to terrifying news: her mother, Florence Ayafor, a prison warden, had been kidnapped, raped, tortured and then decapitated.

“We received a call from the guys who perpetrated the act. They sent a driver with the pullover my mother was putting on to come and give us, and told us that it would be the last souvenir of our mother, “she told Catholic World Report.

She said the kidnappers didn’t require any ransom.

“They wanted my mother’s blood,” Thelma said.

Fighting back stubborn tears, Thelma told CWR that the kidnappers sent them videos illustrating how her mother was killed, and described where the body and the decapitated head were dumped.

Thelma says she had to flee to the capital Yaoundé, because separatists have also been threatening her.

“It’s been five years since my mother was killed, but the pain is still there. And we have been living from hand to mouth; life has really been tough on us,” she said.

Clarise, 35, tells a similar story of pain, anguish and survival. In a 2020 raid in Kumbo in Cameroon’s Northwest region, the military set her home ablaze.

“It was about 1 a.m.I was sleeping with my twin kids, and then I heard gunshots. Before I could do anything, the house was on fire. I held the two children in my arms and went through the backdoor, but met a soldier-his gun pointed at me. I thought that was the end. Maybe he was moved by the sight of my babes. He motioned me to escape into the bush. I trekked for hours in the bush and finally got to the road and then took a cab to Bamenda, but Bamenda wasn’t quite safe either and so I took the bus to Yaounde.”

The twins, now six years old, were also a consequence of the war. Clarisse says in 2017, four masked men raped her, and the result was the pregnancy.

“So I don’t know, and probably will never know the biological father of these children,” she said.

“Some people advised me to abort the pregnancy, but I am Catholic. My religion teaches me that children are a gift from God .Although it was a very painful experience, I still thank God for giving me these children. They are my solace,” she told CWR.

The separatist conflict, which began in 2016, has its roots in Cameroon’s colonial history. Initially colonized by Germany after the 1884 Berlin Conference partitioned Africa, Cameroon was later divided between Britain and France following Germany’s defeat in World War I. France was allocated 80% of the territory (French Cameroon), while Britain administered the remaining 20% (British Southern Cameroons) as part of Nigeria.

In 1961, British Southern Cameroons joined French Cameroon to form a bilingual federal republic. However, in 1972, the country was transformed into a unitary state, leading to feelings of marginalization among the Anglophone regions (Northwest and Southwest).

Anglophones have since faced economic, cultural, and political exclusion, prompting calls for federalism or secession. It’s become a major threat to the unity of the Central African country. Besides the military response, the government also convened what it called a Major National Dialogue in 2019 in efforts to resolve the conflict.

The dialogue amongst other issues proposed the adoption of what it called “a special status” for the two English-speaking regions, the restoration of the House of Traditional Chiefs, the election of local governors, the immediate relaunch of certain airport and seaport projects in the two regions, and the rapid integration of ex-combatants into society.”

The Archbishop Emeritus of Bamenda, His Grace Cornelius Fontem Esua, told CWR that what the government organized in his view was a monologue.

“A dialogue was supposed to bring together the main protagonists of the war to the table. We, the Bishops of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province (which covers the Northwest and Southwest Regions) had insisted that separatists both at home and abroad including imprisoned separatist leaders should be present. This was not done,” he said.

During their Annual Seminar in Buea, the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon reiterated the need for frank and sincere dialogue.

“Is it not time for the political class to sit down in humility and engage in calm dialogue, mindful of its responsibility to lead our people, our country, towards happiness, which requires justice, forgiveness, reconciliation?” they queried.

“True peace does not come from graveyards, but from reconciliation. The Church proclaims the gospel of peace and thus, invites her sons and daughters to dialogue as a contribution to peace,” they urged.

Source: World Catholic Report