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Kenya’s President Daniel Toroitich arap Moi who passed on Tuesday, February 4 will be remembered not only for being the longest serving president of the East African country but also for hosting the highest number of Papal visits in the nation.
A day after the sudden and unexpected death of the basketball superstar Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash alongside his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna and seven others, a section of clergy, religious, and lay Catholic faithful in Africa have, amid shock and disbelief, paid glowing tribute to the 41-year-old retired NBA player, expressing appreciation for his talent, for being a role model to many, and for practicing his Catholic.
Following a decree by the Local Ordinary of Cameroon’s Douala Archdiocese, Archbishop Samuel Kleda, to put an end to the mentioning of Christian Cardinal Tumi, Archbishop emeritus of the same see, in the intercession during Eucharistic celebrations in his Archdiocese, the Cardinal has expressed his appreciation for the period he was mentioned and termed the January 22 decision Archbishop Kleda’s “right and I respect it.”
As the crisis affecting English-Speaking regions of Cameroon continues to deepen amid reports of violence, human rights violation and other forms of untold suffering in these parts of the Central African nation, Bishops in the country have, at the end of their annual seminar in Obala, called for National Days of prayer for the respect of human life in all dioceses across the country.
At the ongoing 43rd Seminar of the Catholic Bishops of Cameroon, the shepherds of the people of God in the various Dioceses of the Central African nation are seeking to deliberate on strategies that can facilitate the rejuvenation of their collective forum, the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (CENC).
The renewed ethnic rivalry in Cameroon pitting, on one hand the Bamilieke who control a great deal of the country’s economy and, on the other hand the Bulu-Beti axis who have controlled the political space for decades, has caught the attention of the Catholic leaders in the Central African nation with Bishops, through a collective message, decrying tribalism and calling for “an examination of conscience” over acts of discrimination on the basis of “tribe or region.”
Two Catholic Prelates, Christian Cardinal Tumi and Bishop Andrew Nkea who recently spearheaded a peace delegation to the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon in view of sensitizing citizens about the proposals made during the end-September early-October National Dialogue have described their mission as “successful” and a “good beginning.”
In the Central African country of Cameroon where the Anglophone crisis has affected livelihoods and the functioning of institutions, a Bishop recently took an informed decision to suspend priestly apostolate in some parishes, withdrawing priests who have been targeted in cases of kidnappings and harassment.
As Cameroon strives to find solutions to end the protracted Anglophone crisis, a Bishop in the central African nation has raised concerns about the seeming mistrust between civilians and the military and encouraged the re-establishment of trust as a recipe for lasting peace.
Following the Tuesday, October 29 landslide in Cameroon’s western city of Bafoussam that has claimed the lives of at least 42 people with many others still unaccounted for, the Local Ordinary of Bafoussam diocese has expressed his solidarity with the victims of the tragedy and the affected families and asked his priests to celebrate Mass in their respective parishes in memory of the dead and their kin.
The protracted Anglophone crisis in Cameroon has taken a heavy toll on the pastoral activities of the local churches, particularly Mamfe diocese, where the Bishop has had to take the painful decision of closing down over a dozen parishes, he has told ACI Africa.
In the footsteps of Saint John Paul II who called for a year dedicated to the Virgin Mary in 1987, Mamfe diocese in the southwest region of Cameroon recently launched a Marian Year for Peace to give Christians the opportunity to give special honor to Our Lady, seeking her maternal intercession for peace to return in the Anglophone regions faced with a three-year conflict.
In the wake of the inter-ethnic violence being witnessed in the commercial town of Sangmelima, Southern Cameroon, the Bishop of the Diocese of Sangmelima has told the inhabitants of the township to get over the thinking that violence can resolve issues bedeviling them and instead, to embrace “frank and sincere dialogue.”
At a time when various stakeholders in the recently held Cameroon National Dialogue are digesting the resolutions reached during the five-day meeting, a Church leader in one of the crisis-hit regions of the Central African country has expressed his disappointment with the way the sessions were conducted and criticized the constitution of the participants as "not inclusive."
As parties to the National Dialogue in Cameroon convene to deliberate on possible solutions to the Anglophone crisis, Pope Francis has expressed his closeness with the people of Cameroon and called on the faithful to pray that the “dialogue may be fruitful.”
The need to have a neutral body to moderate the planned national dialogue in Cameroon, which the Bishops in the Anglophone region had expressed has been reiterated by an Archbishop from the Francophone region who has also called for an inclusive forum that would bring to the negotiating table citizens in the diaspora.
A nationwide crusade advocating for peace in the troubled North West and South West regions of Cameroon is to be launched in the coming days, Christian Cardinal Tumi has announced.