As he spoke, the faithful murmured in disbelief and sorrow. That murmur was not a disturbance — it was the conscience of a wounded people refusing to bow to falsehood.The Nuncio should have heard it as a warning.
By Nchumbonga George Lekelefac
Independentist contributor
Priests in Chains, A Church in Shame
Bamenda is praying — and bleeding. Several Catholic priests and a lay faithful remain in captivity in Ndop, kidnapped and abandoned to danger while their Archbishop enjoys political favour in Yaoundé.
These men of God now spend night after night in the hands of armed groups. Their only crime: serving in a Church whose leadership has chosen politics over prophecy.
Archbishop Andrew Nkea Opened the Door to This Crisis, Let the truth be said clearly and loudly. This wave of kidnappings is not random. It is the predictable harvest of the Archbishop’s open romance with the CPDM regime. By converting the Archdiocese of Bamenda into a quiet branch-office of Yaoundé, he stripped the priesthood of its traditional shield. By standing beside the oppressor, he made his priests look like collaborators. By silencing the prophetic voice of Bamenda, he exposed his clergy to bullets, intimidation, and abductions. The shepherd aligned with Caesar — and the sheep are now paying the price.
The Nuncio’s Visit Poured Fuel on a Burning House.
Then came the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt. Inside Bamenda Cathedral, before a people crushed by nine years of war, he offered public legitimacy to Paul Biya’s contested election — a process citizens at home and abroad consider fraudulent. He did not come to listen. He did not come to heal. He came to endorse a political dynasty that has turned Anglophone land into a graveyard. From the very altar of Christ, he blessed the machinery of oppression — and instantly painted targets on the backs of the priests who serve in the conflict zone.
The Cathedral Rejected the Lie
As he spoke, the faithful murmured in disbelief and sorrow. That murmur was not a disturbance — it was the conscience of a wounded people refusing to bow to falsehood. The Nuncio should have heard it as a warning. Instead, he pushed deeper into political waters where no diplomat of the Church should swim.
A Church That Excuses Injustice Betrays the Gospel
When Bettencourt told a suffering people that “perfect justice does not exist,” he echoed the voice of the powerful, not the voice of Christ. Justice for Anglophones is not a philosophical theory. It is survival. It is dignity. It is freedom from nine years of state violence. For a Nuncio to minimize that suffering on sacred ground is not pastoral failure — it is betrayal.
The Vatican Must Answer for This Complicity
The diplomatic mission of the Holy See is supposed to defend peace, human dignity, and truth. Instead, Bamenda witnessed a public blessing of tyranny. The Vatican cannot pretend this did not happen. Bamenda cannot wait for another tragedy to force the Church to respond. There must be immediate clarification, accountability, and a re-establishment of moral neutrality. The people deserve shepherds, not spokesmen of the regime.
Ambazonians Will Not Pray Their Way Into Silence
The kidnapped priests cry out for justice. Their captivity is a message: when Church leaders abandon neutrality, danger follows. Bamenda now stands at a decisive moment. Either the Church returns to defending the oppressed, or it will continue losing the trust — and the safety — of its own clergy.
Ambazonians know the truth. The struggle for justice and dignity will continue, with or without the courage of the hierarchy.
Nchumbonga George Lekelefac
International Advocate for the Oppressed | Canon Lawyer | Voice of the Voiceless
Email: nchumbong@yahoo.com
“Omnia possumus in Deo qui nos confortat.” — Philippians 4:13
