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

Catholic Bishops in Cameroon are eager to rekindle the faith of the people of God in the Central African nation following their September 10-16 Ad Limina Visit, the Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) has said.

In a September 16 statement, Fr. Jervis Kebei Kewi says NECC members have thanked Pope Francis for welcoming them to Rome during the visit that happens every five years.

“At the end of their pilgrimage to Rome, the Bishops go back home with thankful hearts for having consolidated their unity in the same faith, hope, and charity, and looking forward to rekindling the faith of the Cameroonian people in the immense heritage of spiritual and moral values of the whole Church, in communion with the Bishop of Rome,” Fr. Kewi says.

He says the Catholic Bishops in Cameroon “expressed their deep gratitude to the Holy Father, Pope Francis, for the cordial and fatherly welcome that he gave them, and to the Cardinal Prefects and the officials of the various Dicasteries for the enlightenment and updates given them during their working visits to their offices.”

NECC members are “also deeply appreciative to the ambassadors of Cameroon to the Holy See and to the Republic of Italy, respectively, and the general community of Cameroonians living in Rome, and in Italy, for their welcome gestures and participation at Mass with them,” says Fr. Kewi.

The Catholic Bishops in Cameroon had an audience with the Holy Father on September 15, during which, under the leadership of NECC President, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, “discussed matters affecting the life of the Catholic Church in Cameroon: the Pastoral life of the Church, the formation of priests and catechists, immigration, the upcoming Synod on Synodality, interreligious dialogue, the situation of the socio-political and economic crisis that our country, Cameroon, has been going through, and the security situation of the world at large,” says Fr. Kewi.

The Cameroonian Catholic Priest says that Pope Francis “promised to continue to pray for peace in our country and assured the Bishops of his closeness to the people of Cameroon.”

On the closing day of the visit, NECC members were received at Pontificio Collegio Urbano by the Cameroonian members of the Clergy, men and women Religious, and Laity living in Rome and elsewhere in Italy, where they celebrated a thanksgiving Mass, interacted, and shared a meal.

Source: ACI Africa

The fight against corruption entails the “formation of consciences”, the Director of Social Communications Commission of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) has said.

In a Tuesday, September 12 interview with ACI Africa, Fr. Humphrey Tatah Mbuy lamented “endemic” corruption in Cameroon, saying that the Central African nation was “gradually falling apart”, and that the governance system needed an “overhaul”.

“The government has been trying to diminish the level of corruption but it is endemic. It is something that is built into the system,” said, adding, “You can’t just get up and clean it. It is difficult to wipe it out but not impossible.”

He underscored the importance of internalized value systems at individual level, saying, “There is need for the formation of consciences through proper education in values from all sectors.”

“Our African values for morality which existed before are no longer there. They have been put upside down,” Fr. Mbuy further lamented, and explained, “Three things matter to people now; money, position and possession. People no longer care whatever means they use to get these things.”

In his considered opinion, “Our morality is still to be recovered from this influence of secularism and especially Marxist materialism.”

“There is a certain amount of discretion that each Church leader must possess and which society has a right to expect from each of them. The same applies to those in public service, called to be servants of the people in their administration and political choices,” the Cameroonian Catholic Priest further said.

He went on to highlight some “moral principles” that he said “are necessary to handle corruption in Cameroonian society today.”

“First, there is absolute necessity to make amends, repair or restitution in cases of misappropriation of public funds,” the Director of Social Communications Commission of NECC told ACI Africa.

He added, “There is every reason to continue to stand on the side of good against evil, upholding integrity, rather than give in to licentiousness.”

Source: aciafrica

A Cameroonian priest has suggested that African delegates to the Synod on Synodality assembly next month at the Vatican may be quite resistant to any efforts at being more inclusive of LGBTQ+ people.

Writing in The Tablet last month, Fr. Ludovic Lado, S.J. reflected critically about how negatively the church in Africa has been receiving the synodal process, and specifically when it comes to questions of gender and sexuality. He writes:

“I don’t hear any of the African delegates to the Synod in Rome saying that making room for ‘everybody’ in Church means including LGBT+ people. Many may be open to the idea of making more room for women in positions of authority in the Church, but that is the farthest they can go on gender equity issues. At least for now!”

Lado, who oversees a church-run education center in Chad and is originally from Cameroon, begins with these words:

“[F]rom what I have observed, it would be difficult to say that Catholics at the grassroots in Africa are particularly excited about the upcoming Synod on synodality in Rome in October. It is business as usual in church and society – each continues unperturbed, ruled by the dogma of patriarchy, as they have been for centuries.”

Lado, author of The Politics of Gender Reforms in West Africa, acknowledges that, on women’s rights and roles in the church, “gender equality remains marginal and highly controversial” in many African nations. Religions, particularly Christianity and Islam, which dominate many countries, are central to ongoing oppression, according to Lado. In his examination of LGBTQ+ rights, he states:

“Such resistance to change enjoys powerful popular support, especially so when it is linked to the inclusion of gay people in the life of the Church and the rights of LGBT+ people. The Church has room for all – Todos, todos, todos! (‘Everyone, everyone, everyone!’) – Pope Francis told the huge crowds of young people in Portugal last week. But his message that the Church should make use of the gifts of all its members and that it should be open to all – including LGBT+ people – is not getting through in Africa. The social matrix – especially in religious communities – remains largely homophobic.”

Lado notes that Pope Francis’ statement earlier this year that “homosexuality is not a crime” was not well received by most African ecclesial and political leaders. Rather, these leaders rely on anti-gay sentiments to retain control and coalesce power. Lado concludes that such attitudes will impair African participants at the Synod assembly from being open to inclusive gestures:

“Some political leaders have mastered the art of riding on homophobic sentiments, alleging that Western lobbies are on a new mission of ideological colonisation in Africa. And I don’t recall ever having read a pastoral letter from an African bishop defending gay people from prejudice and discrimination. On the contrary, most of them cite biblical and magisterial texts to support their condemnation of homosexuality. Pope Francis urged young people in Lisbon to chant, ‘Everybody, everybody, everybody’.

“I don’t hear any of the African delegates to the Synod in Rome saying that making room for ‘everybody’ in Church means including LGBT+ people. Many may be open to the idea of making more room for women in positions of authority in the Church, but that is the farthest they can go on gender equity issues. At least for now!”

Fr. Lado’s analysis about the current Synod assembly is consistent with events at previous Synods, like those on the family in 2014-15 and on youth in 2018. The delegates from Eastern Europe and parts of African at those meetings strongly resisted any effort to improve pastoral care for LGBTQ+ people. Those delegates were all bishops, though. Perhaps, now that lay people, including women, religious, and clergy, will be delegates, there will be more African voices like Fr. Lado’s charting a different path that uplifts a church for “everybody.”

Source: New Ways Ministry

The Metropolitan Archbishop of the Bamenda Ecclesiastic Province has disowned a priest reportedly ordained in Anglophone Cameroon when the laity and the Bishop of Lugazi Diocese in Uganda questioned Mr. Francis Xavier Luyinda’s worthiness.

In a correspondence addressed to His Lordship Bishop Christopher Kakooza of the Lugazi Diocese, His Grace Archbishop Andrew Nkea stated that from the photos sent to the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, the bishop who performed the ordination rituals on Mr. Francis Xavier Luyinda is not a Catholic bishop.

Archbishop Nkea furthered that there are many such fake bishops in Cameroon causing confusion.

The fake priest had settled in Our Lady Consolata Catholic Parish, Bweyogere in Uganda and claimed to have been ordained in Cameroon.

In a pastoral letter dated September 4, 2023; Bishop Christopher Kakooza appealed for calm and called on Christians to wait for the official communication from the Ugandan Episcopal Conference.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files