Religion

Far North Flooding: Roman Catholic Bishops announce a collection for victims

4, October 2024

Far North Flooding: Roman Catholic Bishops announce a collection for victims 0

The floods that have hit Cameroon in recent months have caused loss of life and enormous material damage. Those mostly affected by the deadly floods are in Mayo-Danay, a Far North Province of Cameroon. As Caritas Cameroon cannot respond to all requests for help, the Cameroon National Episcopal Conference has invited all parishes to organise a collection this Sunday, 6 October.

In a recent Statement, CENC president Archbishop Andrew Nkea recommended organising a special collection in all parishes of the country.

“We ask that a collection be organised on Sunday, 6 October, in all the parishes of our various dioceses,” he said.

Bishop Damase Zinga Atangana of Kribi Diocese and President of the Episcopal Commission for Catholic Education urged Catholic schools to do the same during the first week of October.

Catholic Church’s long tradition of helping

Cameroon’s Catholic Bishops have thus invited all Catholics and people of goodwill to show generosity and charity towards the victims by making their contributions to the collection. Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala appealed for donations, reaffirming the Catholic Church’s long tradition of helping those in need. “These are Cameroonians who need serious help. It is Catholic tradition for the Church to contribute financially to help the poor and suffering,” said Archbishop Kleda.

Many homes and schools damaged

The current wave of floods in Cameroon follows heavy rains since July. The rains have left at least 20 people dead and more than 236,000 in the Far North of the country affected and in need of humanitarian assistance.

Many homes and schools in Mayo-Danay Province have been destroyed. Farmlands have also been washed away, setting up the region for acute food shortages.

Source: Vatican News

Pope Francis opens new debates on Catholic Church future

2, October 2024

Pope Francis opens new debates on Catholic Church future 0

The General Assembly of the Synod, comprising 368 religious and lay people — including women — from around 100 countries, will hold closed-door debates on potential reforms at the Vatican until October 27.

The synod had already gathered for a month-long assembly in October 2023, after a three-year worldwide consultation among Catholics organised by Francis to confront challenges facing the 2,000-year-old Church.

The 87-year-old Argentine pontiff will have the final say on any doctrinal changes they recommend.

Last year, the assembly addressed themes as varied as attitudes to LGBTQ people, polygamy, the ordination of married men and the fight against the sexual abuse of children by priests.

Although the body resisted pressure to allow the ordination of female priests, calls continue for more visibility and space for women in an institution still run by men.

No decisions are expected any time soon, with the most sensitive issues entrusted to working groups that will deliver their conclusions in June 2025.

Francis launched the Assembly with a mass in St Peter’s Square, where he urged participants to enter the discussions with an open mind.

“Let us be careful not to see our contributions as points to defend at all costs or agendas to be imposed,” he said.

He added that the meeting was “not a parliamentary assembly, but rather a place of listening in communion”.

On Tuesday evening, Francis held a “penitential” vigil attended by around 2,5000 people in St Peter’s Basilica, during which he again asked forgiveness and expressed his “shame” for the abuse by priests that has overshadowed the Church’s work across the world.

People at the vigil heard from a South African former choirboy who was assaulted by a priest when he was just 11, and who denounced a lack of transparency and responsibility in and by the Church that he said had shaken the faith of millions of people.

“We are here as beggars of the Father’s mercy, asking for forgiveness,” Francis said.

“How could we be credible in our mission if we do not acknowledge our mistakes and stoop to heal the wounds we have caused by our sins?” he added.

Source: AFP

Roman Catholic clerics urge support after devastating floods in West and Central Africa

22, September 2024

Roman Catholic clerics urge support after devastating floods in West and Central Africa 0

Catholic leaders across West and Central Africa are calling for assistance following unprecedented and deadly floods that have swept through the regions.

The catastrophic flooding in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Chad, Mali, Ghana, and Liberia has triggered severe humanitarian crises, affecting an estimated four million people, most of whom are children.

As of 17 September, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said that at least 341 people had died due to the floods that have also affected nearly 1.5 million people.

Bishop Dominique Tinoudji of the Diocese of Pala in Chad has urged the population not to despair, reminding them that “God is still on the throne.”

In a September 8 Mass dedicated to the flood victims, the bishop noted that “the situation we face might lead us to question God’s presence, His protection, and His help; but even in the face of such a severe trial, we must not give up hope.”

The bishop called Christians to action, urging them to make sure the new shelters now called home by the millions displaced by the floods do not constitute a source of fresh problems for the people.

“We must safeguard hygiene to prevent disease and protect the vulnerable from the cold and malaria-carrying mosquitoes,” Tinoudji said.

“We are one body in Christ, and individually member’s one of another. Opening your hand to give a kilogram of rice, some maize, or a bar of soap can make a huge difference,” he continued.

He emphasized the importance of supporting local Caritas organizations to ensure a coordinated disaster response.

“Caritas is our way of putting charity into action. Unfortunately, in many parishes, Caritas is either inactive or absent. Even our diocesan Caritas is still in its early stages,” the bishop said.

The Catholic Church leader encouraged communities to take “practical steps in city planning to reduce future risks, particularly in flood-prone areas.”

“Our engineers must help us design cities that consider natural water pathways, flood-prone areas, and proper drainage systems,” the bishop said and reiterated his call to trust in God’s continued presence, saying, “Do not be afraid; be strong and keep your trust in the Lord.”

In Nigeria, at least 269 people are reported dead and more than 640,000 people displaced, according to the latest data from the country’s disaster management agency NEMA.

The flooding in Nigeria was caused by the collapse of a dam following heavy rainfall. There are also concerns that there will be even more flooding in the days ahead as Cameroon plans to release water from the Lagdo Dam in the country’s Far North Region.

Nigeria’s hydrological services agency has warned that 11 states would potentially be flooded as a result.

The Catholic auxiliary bishop of Maiduguri – located in Nigeria’s Borno state that has been most affected by the floods – has in a video message noted that “the city of Maiduguri has been engulfed with a devastating flood and over 40 percent of the city is under water.”

In comments to Crux, the Episcopal Secretary for Laity Affairs of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Josef Iorakpen Ishu, noted that “the flood regime in Nigeria is heartbroken.”

“The flood that is ravishing some parts of the country is compounding the hardship on the people. In fact, the metrology agency is predicting that more states will experience flooding in days and weeks to come, and the government is asking those living in such areas to vacate immediately,” he told Crux.

“The question is should people vacate where? Because the same government has not provided alternative homes or makeshift homes for the people,” he said.

“Even humanitarian agencies are overwhelmed by the situation. It is a huge challenge for us here,” Ishu added.

Then referencing the recent End Bad Governance Protest in Nigeria, Ishu said the government’s response to the floods is just further proof that it has “lost its relevance at all levels: Federal, state and local levels.”

“People are helpless and looking up to God for divine intervention,” he said.

“We are reaching out to our friends at Aid to the Church in Need for your prayers, especially at this difficult and challenging time,” the Bishop of Maiduguri said in a video message.

In Cameroon, where the UN says at least 17 people have died, the government has offered assistance in terms of basic items like blankets, soap, and buckets.

In Niger, over 137,000 people have lost their homes due to flooding since August. Almost 100 deaths have been recorded.

“The situation [in West and Central Africa] is devastating — people in the region are already grappling with rising hunger and alarmingly high malnutrition,” said Modou Diaw, the West Africa Vice President for the International Red Cross.

Climate change is now blamed for the floods, triggering calls for a response to the high cost Africa pays due to the issue.

“Africa is losing an estimated 2-5 percent of its GDP annually due to climate-related disasters,” said Dr. Richard Munang, Africa Regional Climate Change Coordinator at the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in comments to Crux.

“For instance, adaptation costs in sub-Saharan Africa are projected to reach $30-50 billion annually over the next decade,” he said.

Source: Crux

Yaoundé: Papal Nuncio condemns diaspora’s role in Ambazonia conflict

18, September 2024

Yaoundé: Papal Nuncio condemns diaspora’s role in Ambazonia conflict 0

Cameroonians living abroad are fanning the flames of the separatist conflict in the English-speaking regions, according to Archbishop Avelino Bettencourt, the Vatican representative to the Central African country.

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.

In a wide-ranging interview published September 16 in local newspaper, Municipal Updates, the Papal Nuncio said violence of any kind cannot be justified, and noted that he has seen up and close the human suffering in Cameroon’s war-torn English speaking regions, the Northern regions afflicted by Boko Haram as well as the difficulties Central African refugees living in the east of the country are going through.

Narrowing down on the separatist war in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, and the role of the diaspora in supporting the conflict, the pope’s representative challenged diaspora Cameroonians to be conveyors of love and hope, instead of being the tools for violence.

“I believe when you are out of your country, your nation is even dearer to you,” Bettencourt said.

“And that love, if it is love, can only be real if it is to promote peace in your homeland. I would encourage all the diaspora to love their homeland because it is beautiful and rich in traditions and it is worth giving one’s life for peace,” he explained.

In comments to Crux, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of the Bamenda Archdiocese in the separatist stronghold of the North West Region of Cameroon echoed a similar feeling, blasting the diaspora for supporting and abetting a crisis without fully understanding the harm it’s causing the people.

“Our diaspora is so involved because they are not living in Cameroon. They lack adequate information and do not have firsthand experience of the crisis.” Nkea said.

“They see images on social media and hear about events that have occurred. When people are killed in Bamenda, I am the first to arrive at the scene. When houses are burned, I am the first to witness it. So, I speak from personal experience,” he added.

He emphasized the importance of firsthand experience in understanding the true impact of the crisis.

“Regardless of how connected these people are to social media, they lack firsthand experience, which is why they can make the statements they do,” he told Crux.

Nkea expressed a reluctance to engage in discussions about Anglophone problems with those who are not on the ground.

The archbishop’s argument, which he has made on several other occasions, highlights the growing divide between those experiencing the crisis firsthand and those observing from afar, raising questions about the role of the diaspora in addressing the issues facing the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.

But that argument has typically not been taken well with the diaspora, who have accused the archbishop of dishonesty in his assessment of the role of the diaspora in the ongoing crisis.

Chris Annu – leader of one of the factions fighting to create the nation called Ambazonia – has in a YouTube declaration blasted the President of the Cameroonian Episcopal Conference for being “deeply dishonest” in his assessment of the role of the diaspora, and for striving to be “politically correct.”

“Diaspora members who have lost loved ones and property to both La Republique du Cameroun soldiers and rogue Ambazonian elements understand the devastation firsthand. Diaspora leaders he [the archbishop] disparages are deeply informed and genuinely care about the people,” he said.

The Apostolic Nuncio in his interview appealed for dialogue as the only viable way of getting out of the crisis.

“I think at the end of the day, we need to talk to each other with a certain amount of humility and a certain amount of desire to attain the better good of the population,” Bettencourt said.

“We have to work together. All the forces have to work together – be it the religious leaders from all denominations, all social institutions together with security and military and the government. We are people who believe in law and order, and anything less than law and order is chaos,” the Vatican representative said.

Nkea emphasized that meaningful dialogue can only occur if the appropriate atmosphere is established, which, in his view, requires the cessation of violence.

The archbishop also rejected the notion that peace can only be achieved through justice. Citing the example of America, which he described as one of the most unjust societies in the world, Nkea pointed out that this injustice has not led Americans to engage in widespread violence.

“We should have peace, and then we can fight for justice,” he told Crux.

Culled from Crux

Archbishop Nkea says biblical faith requires opposition to homosexual agenda

29, August 2024

Archbishop Nkea says biblical faith requires opposition to homosexual agenda 0

Archbishop Andrew Nkea has strongly rejected the notion that opposition to the LGBT agenda is based simply on African cultural norms.

“Our stand had nothing to do with culture,” said Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, Cameroon. “It was about fidelity to the truth; fidelity to what Christ taught. It was about fidelity to what the Apostles handed down to generations.”

Archbishop Nkea, who is president of the Cameroon bishops’ conference, said that African bishops spoke forcefully against blessings for same-sex marriage during the last session of the Synod of Bishops, and in response to the papal document Fiducia Supplicans. “We are going back to the second session with the same vehement rejection of that document,” he said.

Source: Catholic Culture

Archbishop Nkea on How Synod on Synodality Evolved from Pastoral to “more academic, intellectual topic”

28, August 2024

Archbishop Nkea on How Synod on Synodality Evolved from Pastoral to “more academic, intellectual topic” 0

The Synod on Synodality, which started off as a pastoral issue, bringing on board every baptized member of the Church, has now become a “theoretical” topic for intellectuals, the Archbishop of Cameroon’s Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda has observed.

In his presentation at the August 23 session of the ongoing weekly synodal palavers, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya explored the various ways in which the ongoing multi-year Synod on Synodality, which Pope Francis extended to 2024, with the first phase, 4-29 October 2023, having concluded with a 42-page summary report, has evolved.

“Synodality has undergone an evolution from the time it was conceived through the time it was put out as a subject for the next synod up to where we are now,” Archbishop Nkea said at the event that the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN) organized in collaboration with the Conference of Major Superiors of Africa and Madagascar (COMSAM).

He noted, “Synodality, which stood out as a pastoral topic, is becoming a more academic and intellectual topic.”

According to the Cameroonian Catholic Archbishop, synodality started as a means of gathering the people of God and getting everyone to participate in the life of the Church both in governance and in the preaching of the Gospel.

He said that along the way, he had noticed people move from discussions of inclusion and participation of every Christian in the life of the Church to “very fundamental theological discussions.”

Synodal conversations at present, he said, are theological in nature and “rise far above just the Christians and the Baptized participating in the life of the Church.”

“We started with participation, communion and mission, and these were just simple tools to get every baptized individual involved in the life and the governance of the Church,” the Archbishop of Bamenda, who also serves as President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) said.

“We are beginning to push down the three words that define synodality for us: participation, mission and communion. And we are beginning to move to more theological conversations,” the vocal Catholic Archbishop said, and expressed concern that the Synodal conversations are evolving in a way that “is taking us away from the more practical realm to the theoretical realm.”

The August 23 African palaver, which brought together African theologians, Clergy, women and men Religious, and Laity was organized under the theme, “Theological criteria and synodal methodologies as a basis for shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral and ethical issues.”

Source: aciafrica

Buea: Deadly attack on police officers an “act that violates human life”: Bishop Bibi

28, August 2024

Buea: Deadly attack on police officers an “act that violates human life”: Bishop Bibi 0

The Catholic Bishop of Buea Diocese in Cameroon has “strongly” condemned the killing of police officers in the country’s Southwest region following an attack on their security post located in his Episcopal See.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa on Monday, August 26, Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi weighs in on the August 24 attack that reportedly resulted in the death of three police officers and injury of others; he appeals for peace in the troubled regions of the Central African nation.

“On Saturday, August 24, 2024, three policemen were killed by unidentified gunmen at Bwitingi, a locality in Buea Subdivision, Fako Division of the Southwest Region of Cameroon, Diocese of Buea,” Bishop Bibi says.

He adds, “From my visit to the site of the incident, three police officers on duty were killed in an attack which occurred around 10:30 P.M. The makeshift police post where the attack happened was established as a measure to protect civilians in the context of the ongoing armed conflict in the North-West and South West regions of Cameroon.”

“I strongly condemn any act that violates human life and pray for the conversion of the perpetrators of violence in our midst and for a return to peace and stability,” the Cameroonian Catholic Bishop says.

He continues, “The Church remains close to the families, friends, and relatives of the deceased. We equally pray for the eternal repose of the souls of the victims of this attack.”

“Every time we hear of killings in the context of the ongoing crisis, we are reminded that if we do not abandon the path of violence and seek the path of peace, violence will definitely continue to inflict pain, hurt, and trauma on us all,” he said.

The Catholic Church leader, who has been at the helm of Buea Diocese since December 2019, first as Apostolic Administrator, and since February 2021, as the Local Ordinary adds, “As Christians and people of goodwill, we must always remember the commandment of God: Thou shall not kill.”

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.

School boycotts have become common in these areas, as have enforced moratoriums on public life, resulting in what is known as “ghost towns”.

In his August 25 statement, Bishop Bibi reflects on the ongoing crisis, emphasizing the value of giving peace a chance.

“The integral development of our country requires peace. This peace that we seek as Christians is true peace. Peace which is not limited to maintaining a balance of powers between adversaries,” he says.

The Catholic Church leader who started his Episcopal Ministry as Auxiliary Bishop of Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese in March 2017 explains that “peace cannot be attained on earth without safeguarding the goods of persons, free communication among men, respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, and the assiduous practice of fraternity. Peace is the tranquillity of order. Peace is the work of justice and the effect of charity.”

He appeals to the people of God under his pastoral care “to pray for a speedy return to peace in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon, the peaceful repose of the souls of the departed victims of Saturday’s incident, and for stakeholders of the crisis to seek peaceful means to sustainable peace.”

Source: aciafrica

Bafoussam: Papal Nuncio urges peace in Cameroon

17, August 2024

Bafoussam: Papal Nuncio urges peace in Cameroon 0

Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt, the pope’s representative to Cameroon, is urging Christians to remove the obstacles to peace as the central African country reels from a separatist crisis to the west and Boko Haram incursions to the north.

The Apostolic Nuncio was speaking August 14 during the annual Diocesan Peace Pilgrimage held at St. Joseph Cathedral of Bafoussam Diocese.

He emphasized the divine origin of peace and condemned all forms of violence.

“Peace is the creation of God. It is also a gift from God. Violence is the creation of evil. Violence is never justified. Let us stop any obstacles to peace,” the archbishop said.

He urged Christians to “carry our branches of peace with conviction, with humility, and raise them up to the Lord.”

“Let us place them in our doors, in our windows. Let us make everybody know that we have new symbols of life, not a Monday that is a symbol of death because of someone’s definition, but a branch of life which is a symbol of life and freedom and resurrection in Christ,” Bettencourt said.

The reference to Monday as “a symbol of death” is predicated on the fact that separatists in Cameroon’s two English-speaking North West and South West regions have enforced lockdowns on Mondays as they seek to undermine state presence.

Those who violate the lockdowns are kidnapped, tortured or even killed.

Bettencourt said it was critical that those who pursue peace should do so in humility, and respect towards others.

“I have to be humble before God. I have to be humble before my brother Bishops. We all must be humble before each other in order to be able to understand each other,” the Portuguese-born archbishop said.

“Violence is not justified today, which is Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, or Monday, or Tuesday. It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, because every day is a creation of God,” he added.

Violence erupted in the two English-speaking regions in 2016 when the government responded to teachers and lawyers’ strikes with lethal violence.

The teachers and lawyers in the two regions were striking over what they saw as the overwhelming influence of French in Anglo-Saxon schools and courts.

The government’s violent response led most Anglophones to coalesce around a common theme: The time had come for them to reaffirm their identity as Anglophones, with a distinct educational and legal system.

But it also led to the growth of a separatist wing who felt that the only way for Anglophones to practice their legal, education and political systems was to break away and form a separate nation to be called Ambazonia.

The conflict is now in its eighth year, and has led to the deaths of at least 6000 people, according to the International Crisis Group. More than one million others have been displaced, with more than 70,000 seeking refuge in Nigeria.

The United Nations says 2.2 million of the Anglophone regions’ four million people need humanitarian support while about 600,000 children have been deprived of effective schooling because of the conflict.

The country also faces a reinvigorated jihadist insurgency with deadly attacks in the Lake Chad area. According to the International Crisis Group, the war with Boko Haram, centered in the Far North, has killed over 3,000 Cameroonians, displaced about 250,000.

During the Bafoussam pilgrimage, Christians seized another opportunity to pray for peace in their strife-torn nation. Bishop Paul Lontsié-Keuné of Bafoussam urged both individual believers and the collective community to become ambassadors of peace, spreading harmony wherever they go.

The bishop also urged Christians to “do everything necessary to register and vote in the 2025 presidential elections for the candidate they believe will bring peace to Cameroon.”

He said such a vote would “promote social justice in a country where many live in fear due to kidnappings, the rise of hate speech, tribalism, and other challenges.”

Cameroonians are set to vote in a presidential election next year with ailing president, Paul Biya, now in power for over forty years, expected to seek re-election.

Opposition leaders have accused the president of plotting to extend his stay in power after parliament recently passed a bill extending the mandate of members of parliament by one year and shifting parliamentary elections by the same period.

That move has technically knocked off some of Biya’s potential challengers from the ballot. The Cameroon law requires a candidate for the presidency to belong to a political party that has representation in either parliament or in councils.

The country’s main political party, the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) of Prof. Maurice Kamto is neither represented in parliament nor in the councils.

The CRM said it expected to take part in local and parliamentary elections that should have taken place in February 2025. That way, Kamto would have been able to run in the presidential.

Kamto said the law extending the term of parliamentarians, along with a presidential decision postponing local elections, is another ploy by 91-year-old Biya to remain leader for life.

In light of the growing uncertainty in the country, Lontsié-Keuné urged the faithful to “trust in the saving grace of God, not to succumb to fear, and to strive for unity and fraternity while rejecting all forms of tribalism and division among them.”

Source: Crux

Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province: Archbishop Nkea highlights six levels of Communion

2, August 2024

Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province: Archbishop Nkea highlights six levels of Communion 0

Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea of Cameroon’s Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda has outlined six levels of communion, which he said Catholic Priests share in their Priestly ministry.

In his Wednesday, July 31 homily during the opening Mass of the General Assembly of Priests of Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province (BAPEC), Archbishop Nkea highlighted Communion with the Trinity, Communion with the Church, Hierarchical Communion, Communion in the Eucharistic Celebration, Communion in the Exercise of Ministry, and Communion in the Presbyterate as vitally important in the ministry of Priests.

He described the July 31 – August 2 meeting as a “wonderful encounter of faith and fraternity”, and added, “The Priesthood is the strongest brotherhood in the world.”

“We are linked by that special fraternity which flows from the mystical oil of Chrism with which we were anointed during our Priestly ordinations, and nothing can weaken or separate us from this divine brotherhood,” the Cameroonian Catholic Archbishop said at St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary Bambui (STAMS) in Bamenda Archdiocese.

Communion with the Trinity

“The communion of the Priests is fulfilled above all with the Father, the ultimate origin of all his power, with the Son, in whose redemptive mission he participates, with the Holy Spirit who gives him the power for living and fulfilling his pastoral charity,” Archbishop Nkea said.

The Local Ordinary of Bamenda, who doubles as the President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) advocated for “pastoral charity” on the part of Priests.

“Far from being reduced to a series of techniques and methods serving the functional efficacy of the ministry,” he said, pastoral charity “refers to the nature proper of the mission of the church for the salvation of humanity.”

Communion with the Church

“The ecclesia communion of the Priest is lived in diverse ways. In fact, through Sacramental Ordination, he develops special bonds with the Pope, the Episcopal body, his own Bishop, other Priests, and the faithful,” he said.

Communion with the Church, the Archbishop of Bamenda emphasized, “is of utmost importance because without the Church the Priest cannot exist. We are Priests, and we can only experience this Priesthood in its fullness by being in communion with the Church.”

Hierarchical Communion

“Taking form in said ministerial communion are also some precise ties, first of all with the Pope, the college of Bishops, and Priests’ own proper Bishop,” he said referring to communion from the hierarchy viewpoint.

The 58-year-old Catholic Archbishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in August 2013 as the Coadjutor Bishop of Cameroon’s Mamfe Diocese explained, “There can be no genuine Priestly ministry except in communion with the Supreme Pontiff, the Episcopal College, especially with one’s own Diocesan Bishop who deserves that filial respect and obedience promised during the right of ordination.”

“The Priesthood has absolutely no meaning if it is separated from that of the Bishop in whose Priestly ministry we share,” Archbishop Nkea said.

Communion in the Eucharistic Celebration

“Hierarchical communion is most meaningfully expressed in the Eucharistic prayers,” Archbishop Nkea said.

He explained, “When the Priest prays for the Pope, the College of Bishops and his own Bishop, he expresses not only a sentiment of devotion but attests to the authenticity of his celebration as well.”

“The Eucharistic celebration manifests the unity of the Priesthood of Christ in the plurality of his ministers as well as the unity of the sacrifice of the people of God,” he added.

Holy Mass, the Cameroonian Catholic Church leader said, “contributes to the consolidation of the ministerial fraternity existing among Priests. Without the Eucharist, the Priesthood has absolutely no meaning.”

Communion in the Exercise of Ministry

“Each Priest is to have a deep, humble, and filial bond of obedience and charity with the person of the Holy Father and adhere to his Petrine ministry of magisterium, sanctification and governance with exemplary docility,” he said.

Filial union with a Priest’s “own vision is also an indispensable condition for the efficacy of the Priestly ministry,” the Local Ordinary of Bamenda Archdiocese added.

“Priesthood without communion in ministry has no meaning. In this province of Bamenda we have a provincial pastoral plan that binds us in the exercise of our ministry, and therefore we share commitment in the exercise of ministry through this common pastoral plan,” he said.

Besides being an expression of maturity, Archbishop Nkea said, “This adhesion which entails proceeding in unison with the mind of the Bishop, contributes to the education of that unity in communion which is indispensable for the work of evangelization.”

Communion in the Presbyterate

“By virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, each Priest is united to the other members of the Priesthood by specific bonds of apostolic charity, ministry and fraternity,” Archbishop Nkea said.

Priesthood, he said, is “a true family, in which the ties are not of flesh or of blood but come from the grace of Holy Orders.”

“Belonging to a specific Presbyterate always takes place within the context of a particular church, and not for reasons of incarnation, which in no way alters the fact that the Priest too, as a baptized person, belongs in an immediate manner to the universal church,” he explained.

Archbishop Nkea described the Priesthood as “a moving signpost”, and went on to explain, “The signpost stands on one place and indicates the road to heaven. But the Priest is a moving signpost. You are moving as you show the people the way to heaven.”

“You are also moving towards heaven. You cannot be showing the way to heaven, and you are moving towards hell,” he added. 

Archbishop Nkea called upon Priests to “give up everything so as to enter heaven at the end of our lives. It will be a total catastrophe and a waste of life if we direct people to go to heaven and we find ourselves outside heaven.”

Source: aciafrica

Rome: New report suggests long-term worries for Vatican finances

1, August 2024

Rome: New report suggests long-term worries for Vatican finances 0

A new analysis of the Vatican’s financial situation by an Italian news outlet contains both good and bad news for papal finances, pointing to relative success in efforts to contain ballooning deficits but also seemingly irreversible long-term declines.

According to an overview of the most recent financial data published July 26 by La Repubblica, Italy’s most widely read daily newspaper, the Vatican’s annual operating deficit grew by roughly $5.4 million in 2023, a lower figure than in past years. The report suggested the result was due to the impact of both spending cuts and also efforts to generate more realistic appraisals of the value of Vatican properties.

Among the cost-cutting measures adopted in recent years include new limits on hiring and contracting, as well as efforts to increase the rents collected on some Vatican properties which are leased commercially and to put others up for sale.

The report cited a recently completed financial statement approved by the Vatican’s Council for the Economy, led by German Cardinal Reinhard Marx. According to the report, the deficit for 2023 amounted to over $90 million, with income of $1.25 billion and expenses of $1.34 billion.

Income in 2023 actually grew by $30 million, according to the financial statement, but expenses also went up by $36 million due to the impact of inflation.

The statement also indicated that the size of the 2023 deficit could still shrink somewhat depending on what the actual performance of the Vatican’s investment portfolios match projections.

The Repubblica analysis also found that income from the annual Peter’s Pence collection, which supports the works of the pope, amounted to $52.5 million in 2023, an increase over the $47.2 million collected in 2022.

Nonetheless, the net gain from the collection was offset by the fact that the fund’s reserves were once again draw upon in 2023 to support the Roman Curia, the Vatican’s chief administrative bureaucracy, to the tune of almost $98 million.

Moreover, the long-term trend in income from the fund is clearly downwards. According to the Repubblica analysis, collections dropped 23 percent overall from 2015 to 2019, and are poised for further reductions.

To some extent, those declines may be related to financial scandals, such as the aborted $400 million purchase of a former Harrods warehouse in London that resulted in the criminal convictions of nine figures for fraud, including Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu. Given that Peter’s Pence also is sometimes viewed as a referendum on the popularity of the current pope, various controversies surrounding Franci may also have had an impact.

More basically, however, most observers believe the core factor is that much of the Peter’s Pence income derives from wealthier nations, where Catholic populations, and therefore Catholic giving, have been in decline for decades.

Declines in income are especially worrying for Vatican accountants today, given concerns about an aging workforce and unfunded pension obligations down the line. There’s also alarm that rising costs and declining income could eventually compel the Vatican to either trim its payroll or cut salaries, or both, at time when both the volume and the complexity of the workload from around the world is increasing rapidly.

The financial statement reportedly approved by the Council for the Economy concerns the Holy See, and mostly excludes both the Government of the Vatican City State, which is responsible for administration of the physical territory – including income, for example, from the Vatican Museums – and also excludes the Institute for the Works of Religion, the so-called “Vatican bank,” which for 2023 showed $33.2 million in income and a total of $5.9 billion in client assets.

However, it’s considered improbable that income from either the city state or the IOR will be sufficient in coming years to offset the Vatican’s broad deficits, leaving it unclear for the moment how the losses will be sustained.

Source: Crux

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