A priest from the Diocese of Ahiara, in Nigeria, has disclosed the contents of a letter that he wrote to Pope Francis – and the Pope’s reply to it – and follows the Pope’s threat four months ago to suspend the cleric, along with more than 100 other diocesan priests, if they did not accept their new bishop, write James Roberts and Ellen Teague.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke to the southern Nigerian diocese in 2012. Priests boycotted the appointment claiming it was part of a conspiracy to oppress the people of Ahiara, especially its dominant Mbaise linguistic group. On 8 June, Francis gave the priests 30 days to apologise to him in writing and accept the bishop, or be suspended.
Fr Ben Ogu from Ahiara shared his letter of apology, and the one that he received back from the Vatican, with the US Catholic website, Crux.
“In my letter, supposedly written personally to the Pope, I expressed all my honest feelings of disgust about the imposed bishop and my inability to accept, cooperate and work with him in my Christian conscience,” he told Crux.
However, Fr Ogu complained that his letter had been taken as support for Bishop Okpaleke, and he was now being “forced” to accept him.
Fr Ogu said he had received a reply from Cardinal Fernando Filoni on behalf of the Pope, thanking him for “reaffirming” his “undoubted total loyalty and obedience”.
It is not yet known whether Bishop Okpaleke will be able to visit the diocese, or whether any priests will be suspended.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Catholic bishops have condemned calls for the break-up of Nigeria as “shameful”. According to the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, a lack of social justice is responsible for the country’s current ethnic tensions. “This is not the way out,” he told a plenary gathering of around 55 bishops on 10 September.
“The way out is to correct the level of injustice that has been done to minority ethnic nationalities in the country.” The agitation is being led by pro-Biafra groups who feel that Nigeria’s southeastern region, which fought a bitter secessionist war in 1967-70, has been politically marginalised.
Loading ...
