Abidjan, 04 January, 2025 / 6:13 pm (ACI Africa).
Members of the Clergy of the Catholic Diocese of Man in Ivory Coast have expressed their regrets over the fallout with their Local Ordinary that resulted in the 27 December 2024 appointment of Jean-Pierre Cardinal Kutwa as Apostolic Administrator “Sede plena” of the Ivorian Episcopal See.
In a statement issued on December 31, the Catholic Priests acknowledge with “regrets” the “unfortunate situation” of Man Diocese following their fallout with Bishop Gaspard Béby Gnéba and reach out to the people of God in the Diocese for forgiveness.
The appointment of Cardinal Kutwa, the Archbishop emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abidjan in Ivory Coast, followed a fallout between Bishop Gnéba and his Clergy over the former’s directives to the faithful to denounce the latter’s infidelity to their Priestly vocation and ministry.
“Any lay faithful who knows that a Priest is not faithful to his celibacy, that he has a wife or a child, that he has committed sexual abuse or economic crimes, must have the courage to denounce him to the Bishop," Bishop Gnéba was quoted as saying in a 4 January 2024 letter that he reportedly described as "urgent, important and necessary".
Remaining silent about such errant Clergy constitutes a “sin of complicity”, the Ivorian Catholic Bishop, who has been at the helm of Man Diocese since his Episcopal Consecration in March 2008 is further quoted as saying, and referred to the Holy Father, who he said “speaks of zero tolerance for these priests."
