Pope Francis has me with a Cameroonian mgriant who lost his wife and daughter in the desert between Libya and Tunisia last July.

On Friday, November 17, the Holy See Press Office reported that Pope Francis met with Mbengue Nyimbilo Crepin (known as Pato), accompanied by Fr. Mattia Ferrari, who serves as chaplain to Mediterranea Saving Humans, also assisting them in many rescue missions.

With them were a number of migrants and collaborators of associations and entities involved in the reception and integration of refugees, who in various ways helped facilitate Pato’s arrival in Italy, as well as Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Pato lost his wife, Matyla and six-year-old daughter, Marie in July this year after being stopped and returned to the desert between Libya and Tunisia by Tunisian authorities.

Amid emotion over his story, Pope Francis listened to words of gratitude for the meeting and painful accounts of the thousands of people who suffer as they attempt to reach Europe.

David, from South Sudan, working alongside prisoners in detention camps in North Africa, thanked the Pope for his encouragement and interventions on behalf of migrants.

He said, “You not only offer us a dream, you welcome us.”

In greeting them, after listening to their words, Pope Francis turned to Pato, with a thought for his wife and daughter, “I have prayed so much for them.”

He thanked them all for their commitment, while recalling that being born in places where one can study and work is a privilege.

“Privilege is a debt,” he said, and added, “what you do is not a plus, it is a duty.”

Finally, before saying goodbye, Pope Francis prayed for those present, asking the Lord to watch over those who “work for others,” the people who could not come, those in detention camps, and “the many, many who suffer.”

Source: aciafrica

The October 4-29 XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops was a “special” moment for the Universal Church, Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea of Bamenda Archdiocese in Cameroon who participated in the Rome meeting has said.

Speaking at a Wednesday, November 15 webinar which the African Synodality Initiative (ASI), a partnership between the Jesuits Conference of Africa and Madagascar (JCAM), the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), and the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) initiated to share experiences and lessons of African delegates, Archbishop Nkea said the synod “was indeed a moment of grace.”

“Everyone who was in that meeting experienced something very special. The way we conversed with one another, the light-hearted way in which we took things, the way we were able to interact with each other, the moments of the celebration of the Eucharist, and the moments of sharing with one another. That was a very special grace for the Church,” the Cameroonian Catholic Archbishop who was a member of the Ordinary Council of the synod said.

He said the Synod was also very special because of the participation of many countries including China.

The Archbishop of Bamenda who also serves as the President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) further said the Rome meeting was special because “it was a very deep moment of communion.”

“We experienced very deep communion with one another. We were able to share and all who participated in the synod were able to interact with Pope Francis like friends,” the Catholic Archbishop who started his Episcopal Ministry in Cameroon’s Mamfe Diocese as Coadjutor Bishop in August 2013 said.

According to Archbishop Nkea, the Synod special because it was a “big and great moment of sharing.”

“We shared freely, we shared without reserve, we shared without being afraid of any subject and everyone was able to interact in this process,” he said, and continued, “We were able to talk to each other freely, bring up our own ideas and this aspect of sharing is a very strong element of synodality.”

He recounted, “It is the first synod to take place out of the synodal hall. There were 37 tables with each table having at least 12 delegates. Being out of the synodal hall and sitting on these round tables, we each had the feeling of being a family.”

“We all felt very close and intimate sitting round these tables and talking to one another,” Archbishop Nkea said during the November 15 webinar.

The introduction of the element of Spiritual conversations also made the Synod on Synodality very special.

“During this synodal assembly, after every four speakers, we bowed our heads, closed our eyes for four minutes reflecting on what has been said and reflecting on what we would say ourselves,” Archbishop Nkea recounted.

He continued, “This was a very special moment where the Spirit spoke to each one of us in our hearts. We understood from this conversation in the Spirit that it was not our arguments that we are advancing. We were not in the synod to defend ideologies. We were not in the synod to promote personal agendas.”

“When we put down our heads, there was only one focus: the Spirit of God is the only protagonist of the synod,” the Archbishop of Bamenda said.

The fact that lay people were invited to participate in the Synod also made it special.

“It was a very special moment for the Church that we could sit together with our lay brethren and together express how we felt,” Archbishop Nkea said.

Source: aciafrica

Over 30 people were killed in a recent attack on a village in the Diocese of Mamfe. Separatist fighters are suspected of committing the attack; the Anglophone crisis, an ongoing armed conflict in Cameroon, began in 2017 and has displaced over 700,000 people.

“His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to be informed of the recent killings that took place in Egbekaw in the Diocese of Mamfe,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, wrote in a letter to the bishops’ conference. “He asks you to convey his spiritual closeness and assurance of his prayers to those affected by this tragedy.”

“We vehemently condemn the atrocious act that brought about the destruction of the lives of so many innocent men, women, and children,” said Bishop Aloysius Fondong Abangalo of Mamfe. “The massacre of human beings is an intrinsically evil act because it violates the fifth commandment of the Decalogue: You shall not kill.”

Source: Catholic Culture

The Catholic Bishop of Mamfe Diocese in Cameroon has “vehemently condemned” the killing of innocent civilians following an attack at the new Layout Egbekaw, a locality within his Episcopal See.

On November 6, unidentified gunmen reportedly opened fire on people as they slept in Egbekaw leaving at least 20 dead, many others injured and houses burnt down.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa Monday, November 6, Bishop Aloysius Fondong Abangalo provided details about the attack in his Episcopal  See.

“On the early hours of Monday 6th of November 2023, several persons were killed, others gravely injured and a good number of houses burned down by unidentified Gunmen at Egbekaw village in Mamfe Central Subdivision. Up till this moment, we cannot find any reasons to justify this heinous act,” Bishop Abangalo recounted.

He added, “We vehemently condemn the atrocious act that brought about the destruction of the lives of so many innocent men, women, and children.”

“The massacre of human beings is an intrinsically evil act because it violates the fifth commandment of the Decalogue: You shall not kill,” the Cameroonian Bishop said.

He noted that the Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly explains the reason why the killing of a human being is inadmissible: “Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.”

The 50-year-old Cameroonian Bishop who started his Episcopal Ministry in May 2022 further said, “We equally use this medium to extend our sincere condolences to the bereaved families and to assure them of our closeness and prayers during this moment of pain and sorrow.”

“We have decided that Holy Mass will be celebrated in the Saint Joseph’s Cathedral Church, Mamfe, on Tuesday 7th November, 2023, at 8.00 a.m., for the eternal repose of the souls of those murdered; for the quick recovery of those gravely injured; and, for the conversion of those who perpetrated the heinous act,” Bishop Abangalo said.

Cameroon’s English-speaking regions plunged into conflict in 2016 after a protest by lawyers and teachers turned violent. An armed movement of separatists claiming independence for the so-called republic of Ambazonia emerged following the government’s crackdown on protesters.

Source: aciAfrica

The President of the National Episcopal Conference Archbishop Andrew Nkea has welcomed the new Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt at the Nsimalen International airport.

As Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt will represent the Holy Father in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. The role is the equivalent to that of an ambassador.

His Grace Archbishop Andrew Nkea said best wishes and prayers to Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt and expressed his hope that his appointment will strengthen relations between Yaoundé and Rome.

Reacting to the news, the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the Cameroon Concord News Group the Right Honorable Soter Agbaw-Ebai said the coming to Yaoundé of an experienced Roman Catholic cleric who has spent most of his working life in the diplomatic service of the Holy See is a very significant appointment for the life of the Church in Cameroon.

Relations between Cameroon and the Holy See have greatly improved in recent years as there is now a much better understanding of the shared interests including the importance of peace and stability in Anglophone Cameroon.

The Portuguese-Canadian prelate was born in Velas, Azores, on 23 May 1962.  He reportedly settled at a young age in Canada with his family and was ordained a priest in 1993 in the Archdiocese of Ottawa.

He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1999 and obtained a doctorate in canon law at Pontifical Gregorian University. He worked at the apostolic nunciature to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and then moved to the Secretariat of State of the Holy See.

On 14 November 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him head of the protocol of the Secretariat of State. He was also responsible for contacts with the embassies accredited to the Holy See and to the central Vatican authority.

On 26 February 2018, Pope Francis gave him the title apostolic nuncio and appointed him Titular Archbishop of Aemona. He was named nuncio to Armenia on 1 March and to Georgia as well on 8 March. He received his Episcopal ordination from Pope Francis on 19 March.

On 30 August 2023, Pope Francis appointed him as Papal Nuncio to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.

By Toto Roland Motuba with files

Rev. Father Andrew Ambezieh was incarcerated since 2017 at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison in Yaoundé on fabricated terrorism charges.  He was sentenced in 2018 to 12 years in prison and reportedly granted bail in 2019 but was never released until his passing.

The Roman Catholic cleric who hailed from Tezie Ngie in Momo faced harassment and repeated interrogations in prison and died in custody on October 11, 2023 despite requests for his release as his health deteriorated.

In a statement, the leader of the Ambazonian nation, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe explained that Father Ambezieh had dedicated much of his life to defending the rights of the peoples of Southern Cameroons and that his death will forever remain a stain on Yaounde’s human rights record.

According to Cameroon Intelligence Report sources in Yaoundé, the priest’s illness meant that he had severe tremors in both hands and had great difficulty eating, drinking and washing.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

A Catholic priest and three Catholic teachers in Cameroon’s troubled southwest region are recovering from bullet wounds after they were shot in what church authorities say was a targeted attack on a Catholic primary school Sept. 26.

The attack comes amid the country’s struggle with seven years of separatist violence, and the Catholic Church still seems to be the only possible peace-negotiating partner.

According to Father Christopher Eboka, who is the Mamfe Diocese’s director of communications, the attackers entered the Catholic primary school in St. Martin of Tour’s Kembong Parish in search of Father Elvis Mbangsi.

“It was toward break time (around 11 a.m.) and the priest was in class. Four gunmen came (to the school compound) on two motorbikes. It seems three of the four did not know who the father was — they expected him to be in clerical garments,” Father Eboka explained to OSV News.

“Three of the assailants were asking where the father was. When they went round without seeing the father, they caught the teachers, whom they forced to sit on the ground. It was when they sat on the ground that one of the attackers realized that one of (them) was Father (Mbangsi),” the priest explained.

“They did not ask any questions, they didn’t say anything. They just shot the three of them. They shot Father (Mbangsi) four times. They shot him on the left wrist, shot him on the right thigh … on the left knee and … on the right foot. The other teachers had two gunshots each on the legs,” Father Eboka explained.

School staff are recovering from gunshots in the hospital. “The priest is doing well,” said Father Eboka.

He told OSV News that he was accompanying the priest and the four teachers at the Bamenda Regional Hospital where they received medical assistance. Father Mbangsi “has four bullet wounds and is responding to treatment so far, and the teachers are also responding to treatment. Thank God, none of them died,” the communications director explained.

“It was a targeted attack, but no one knows exactly what their problem was,” he added.

This is the second time a priest from the Kembong parish has been assaulted. Father Cosmas Ombato Ondari, a priest of Kenyan descent serving in the parish, was shot and killed in an exchange of gunfire by government soldiers and separatist gunmen Nov. 21, 2018.

In the course of the separatist war in Cameroon, now in its seventh year, Christians and their churches have been the subject of numerous attacks.

On Oct. 4, 2018, seminarian Gérard Anjiangwe was killed in front of St. Teresa Church in Bamessing, in northwestern Cameroon. Father Alexander Sob Nougi was fatally shot on the Buea-Muyuka highway July 20 the same year. A week before, troops in Batibo in the northwest region viciously murdered the Rev. Isaac Atoh, a Pentecostal minister of Ghanaian origin.

In September 2022, 60 unknown assailants thought to be separatist rebels set fire to St. Mary Catholic Church in the village of Nchang, in the Diocese of Mamfe. Nine people were taken hostage, including five clergymen, one religious sister and a lay Christian.

Cameroon was once a German colony, but when Germany was defeated after the First World War in 1918, the territory was shared between the victorious powers: Britain and France. Britain got the territory known today as the northwest and southwest regions, which represent 20% of the nation’s territory.

However, the country’s majority French-speaking citizens have long been accused of marginalizing and attempting to assimilate English-speaking citizens.

Violence erupted in the country in 2016, following peaceful strikes by English-speaking teachers and lawyers. They called for the English language to be given full recognition in public administration, the judiciary and the education and healthcare sectors. A separatist uprising ensued and fighting started for the independence of Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. In response, the central government first remained silent on the situation, then suppressed the Anglophone protest movement.

In seven years of fighting, at least 6,000 people have been killed, according to Human Rights Watch, and more than a million were forced to flee their homes.

As the conflict rages on, the church has been caught in the middle, trying to negotiate a way out of the conflict.

“For the past six years, the church has been suffering,” said Father Zephyrinus Mbuh, national secretary for Catholic education.

“The church tried to propose a solution to the crisis and on the one hand, those who would like to separate and have a different country, they accuse the church, especially the leaders of the church, of being with the government. And at the same time the government looks at the leaders of the church (asking) … are you … with our enemies?” he said.

“And the question is, if we really want one country, can we have enemies within the same country? We shouldn’t have enemies. We may have different interests as individuals. There is no doubt about that. But the common good is the common good and … we need to think of the welfare of one another and we need to respect one another,” Father Mbuh told OSV News.

Father Herman Birwong, a priest working in one of the flashpoints of separatist violence in the northwest region added that the church and any other neutral body “is caught between the amba boys,” as the separatist fighters are called, “and government soldiers.” The separatists are seeking their own state called Ambazonia.

He told OSV News that as a priest however, he won’t stigmatize the belligerents or run away from them, because “they are all our people. These boys holding guns are our Christians. Soldiers are also our Christians. We can’t push them away,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that those who suffer are vulnerable parents, poor women and children,” he lamented, talking about the consequences of the ongoing conflict.

Father Mbuh said that the way forward lies in frank and sincere dialogue — the very solution the church has been proposing for years.

“What we need to do is (to) look each other in the face and say, ‘What exactly do we want as members of the same country. How can we improve our country?'” he said.

In 2019, the Cameroon government organized what it described as a Major National Dialogue to resolve the problem, but church leaders described it as rather “a monologue” as the key separatist leaders were held in prison at the time of the meeting.

Despite attacks on the church and its people, there is increasing consensus that a workable solution will only come from the Catholic Church, whose members account for 40% of Cameroon’s 27 million people.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group has suggested precisely that, saying in a 2018 report that other than the Catholic clergy, “there are few prospective peacemakers.”

“If no one fills that role, the separatist sentiment already voiced by many Anglophones will continue to grow, fueling further violence and exacerbating the ongoing insurgency in the Anglophone regions,” the report said. The English-speaking separatists are seeking their own state called Ambazonia.

Source: UCA News

Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi of the Catholic Diocese of Buea in Cameroon has been honored by the country’s NewsWatch Newspaper for his “exceptional skills” in leading the people of God and managing the property of the Cameroonian Episcopal See.

In a statement announcing the award, NewsWatch Editor-in-Chief, Ndi Eugene Ndi, said the Bishop who faced opposition following his appointment to the Diocese had achieved a lot in a short period.

“Bishop Bibi was named winner of the ‘Church Management Torchbearer Award’ for manifesting exceptional skills in leading God’s people in the Diocese of Buea and for tactfully restructuring Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB) to fulfill its mission of molding entry-level professionals with moral and spiritual values,” Ndi said in the statement that was shared with ACI Africa on Friday, September 29.

According to Ndi, Bishop Bibi had been announced the winner of the award during the 10th-anniversary celebration of NewsWatch newspaper in Yaounde on August 19. The newspaper has been under the aegis of the Minister of Communication, who was represented at the event by the Inspector General in the Ministry.

The NewsWatch official said that Bishop Bibi and other recipients of various awards were voted by the newspaper’s wide community of readers and the final results were compiled by a jury of experts made up of revered media men and women in the country

The chairman of the jury of experts, Viban Jude, recognized the Bishop of Buea for putting in place “major reforms including the suppression of doubtful Lay Associations of Christ’s faithful.”

“Even with all that Bishop Bibi has achieved in so short a time as chief shepherd of the Diocese of Buea, he has always said that his achievements are not because of him alone but thanks to the marvelous collaboration he has received from his Priests, the religious and the people of God in the Diocese of Buea,” Viban said.

In June 2020, Bishop Bibi made changes at the Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB), appointing Professor Victor Julius Ngoh as Vice Chancellor, a position previously held by Fr. George Nkeze Jingwa, whom the Bishop asked to take a sabbatical leave.

Members of the University Council disapproved of the change and dragged Bishop Bibi, then Apostolic Administrator of Buea Diocese, to court.

Source: aciAfrica

Delegates to the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops are not to give “room for distractions” during the meeting scheduled to begin on October 4.

In a September 23 interview, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of the Bamenda Archdiocese said deliberations during the Synod that Pope Francis extended to 2024 will focus on the Instrumentum Laboris.

“We are not going to allow ourselves to be distracted by the social media antics; there will be no room for distraction,” Archbishop Nkea said, adding, “The aim of the synod is to reflect on the Church we have and how we want it to be and not to change the doctrine of the Church.”

The metropolitan Archbishop who was appointed member of the Ordinary Council of the synod by Pope Francis highlighted some of the issues to be discussed, saying, “We are going to reflect on the problem of LGBT+ in families and polygamy in marriage but it’s not about changing the teachings of the Church. There is already an Instrumentum Laboris we are working on.”

The Archbishop of Bamenda who doubles as the President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) further said, “We have dedicated three years of effort to prepare for this event through questionnaires and a mini-African synod that was held in Ethiopia.”

“We are going to allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit, allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us,” the Catholic Archbishop who started his Episcopal Ministry in Cameroon’s Mamfe Diocese as Coadjutor Bishop in August 2013 said.

Reflecting on how synodality was lived in Cameroon, he said, “Synodality has, so to speak, caught fire not only in Cameroon but in Africa. The synod is not a new thing to the Church in Cameroon because we have conveyed to our faithful from the very beginning what every Diocese must do to respond to Pope Francis’ call to listen to one another, progress together, share ideas, and remember that, as Christians, we must not leave anyone behind.”

He went on to explain that in Cameroon, the structural approach “begins with decisions made at the grassroot community levels.”

“The spirit of collegiality is our way of functioning. We always start with the population and the community, then proceed to missions, parishes, and the Diocese,” Archbishop Nkea said.

He noted that “when a Bishop contemplates a decision on a particular issue, the consultation process begins with the involvement of the faithful, starting with families … Together with his (Bishop’s) advisors, they make the final decision based on the input received.”

New Pastoral Year Launched in CAR Archdiocese, Cardinal Urges Faithful to “get involved”

In a break with past custom that allowed laypeople to participate in the Synod of Bishops without the right to vote, the Vatican indicated on April 26 that lay delegates to the 16th Ordinary General Assembly that was announced in March 2020 will participate as voting members.

Also speaking to ACI Africa on September 23, Bishop Georges Nkuo of Cameroon’s Kumbo Diocese said, “The Holy Father invites us to engage in dialogue to discern the kind of Church we have and the kind of Church we aspire to build in a truly evangelical spirit.”

“We aim for a Church that is closely connected to the people, one that is recognized at the periphery. While other topics may surface during the synod, the primary focus is on our collective journey and discernment,” Bishop Nkuo, who is not among the delegates to the Synod, said.

He continued, “We are a mature Church. The Holy Father does not endorse ideologies; he embraces individuals. Every human being is precious in the eyes of God. The Holy Father does not engage with organizations or NGOs that have specific agendas. We come to the Church not to change its teachings but to deepen our understanding together.”

Culled from ACI Africa