On visit to Bamenda: Pope proclaims peace on Anglophone regions.

The supreme head of the Catholic Church, made the proclamation Thursday, while on an apostolic visit to Bamenda, in the North West Region.

Pope Leo, who arrived the country Wednesday, for a four-day apostolic journey, was speaking at a meeting with local community stakeholders and a cross section of Christians from across the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, which covers the two English-speaking Regions of the country. 

The gathering at the Big Mankon Cathedral, was attended by several government dignitaries, including the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji; the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of the Supreme State Audit Office, Mbah Acha Rose; and the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Paul Tasong.

Former Prime Minister, Philemon Yang; the Minister Delegate to the Minister of External Relations in charge of Cooperation with the Commonwealth, Felix Mbayu; and the Interim Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Prof Fuh Calistus Gentry, were also in attendance, among many other elite of both Regions. 

The meeting at the Big Mankon Cathedral preceded a heavily attended mass held at the Bamenda Airport.

When Pope Leo XIV took to the rostrum during the meeting at the Cathedral, he told the people of Bamenda he was in the city as “a servant of peace”.

Pope Leo, in his scripted address, urged Christians to rise as true peacemakers, emphasising forgiveness, justice and togetherness, as the only path way towards peace.

The Holy Father said it was joy for him to be in the North West Region that has suffered so greatly amidst the ongoing armed conflict.

“…the experience of suffering by your community has only made stronger your conviction that ‘God has never abandoned us’,” he told a cheering crowd of worshippers.

The Pope then stated that: “…I am here to proclaim peace. As one of you observed, the crisis impacting these Regions of Cameroon has brought Christian and Muslim communities closer than ever before. Indeed, your religious leaders have come together to form a movement for peace, to which they seek to mediate between the opposing sides”.

“I wish this will happen in so many other places of the world. Your work for peace can be a model for the whole world,” he said of peace efforts in the Anglophone Regions, before noting that: “You who hunger and thirst for justice…are the light of the world. Bamenda, today, you are the city on the hill, splendid in the eyes of all”.

“Be the salt that continues to give flavour to this land. Do not lose your flavour, even in the years to come. Let us all cherish this day that we have come together to work for peace,” Pope Leo, who is also head of the Vatican City urged.

He regretted that today, the world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants. Peace, he said, “is not something we must invent; it is something we must embrace, by accepting our neighbors as our brothers and sisters. We simply must accept one another. We are one family…let us serve peace together”.

“As the Imam said, let us thank God that this crisis [Anglophone crisis] has not degenerated into a religious war and that we are all still trying to love one another. Let us move forward courageously. Let us walk together in love,” he continued.

Enter Archbishop Nkea

Meanwhile, speaking earlier, the Archbishop of Bamenda, His Grace Andrew Nkea, described the visit of the Pope as not only a blessing to the people of Cameroon but beyond.

Nkea, who is also President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, NECC, reminded Pope Leo XIV that he was visiting at a time the people of the North West and South West Regions need his presence and comfort most. 

“We have known a lot of sufferings for the past eight years. Many of our people have suffered a lot from a situation they didn’t create. Thousands are either internally displaced or have escaped as refugees. Businesses were shut down and for about four years, our children were not allowed to go to school. Children were used as a political baits,” he told the visiting Pope. 

In his emotional address delivered during the gathering, the Archbishop told Pope Leo XIV that many priests, religious and Bishops in the Anglophone Regions, have either been harassed, beaten, kidnapped or even killed in the conflict.

Despite the challenges, he added that the “Church continues to carry the gospel as the light of hope among the trumatised people”.

He said many women have been rendered widowed, children orphaned and many people homeless, as the crisis rages on.

Nkea told Pope Leo that: “Today that your feet are standing on the soil of Bamenda that has drunk the blood of many of our children, we in Bamenda, can address ourselves in the words of Prophet Isiah - ‘a people who walked in darkness, have seen the great light’”.

He sounded confident that with the coming of the Pope, “now is the time for peace. We are sure that your coming to Bamenda is like the rain that never falls to the earth without watering the ground. So too, we believe that your visit will not leave us to continue fighting but to start loving one another”.

Forgotten crisis – Rev Fonki Samuel

Taking the cue during yesterday’s meeting, the immediate past Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, PCC, the Very Rt Rev Fonki Samuel Forba, told the Pope that he was privileged to highlight some of the outcomes of the crisis plaguing the North West and South West Regions. 

Rev Fonki, who is part of a movement of religious leaders pushing for an end to the armed conflict in the two English-speaking Regions, told Pope Leo XIV that one of the positive fruits of the crisis is that it has brought the Christian churches and the Muslim religion closer than ever. 

He explained that persecution and suffering know neither faith nor race, language, nor colour. 

Rev Fonki disclosed to the Pope that: “Because of the common suffering we have been going through, religious leaders of the Anglophone extraction bonded together and created a peace movement…under the leadership of the Archbishop of Bamenda, we have visited and spoken with most of the leaders of the separatist movement at home and abroad...we have tried to engage the local separatist fighters on the ground in dialogue, convincing them that peace is better than dialogue”.

He regretted the fact that the Anglophone crisis is one of the forgotten crises on planet earth, “but it was brought to the notice of the Vatican and the Vatican was even willing to facilitate dialogue between the warring factions”.

Rev Fonki informed the Pope that: “There is a proverb in Africa that ‘when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers’. Many ordinary people, including women and children, have suffered tremendously from the fighting between government forces and separatist fighters”.

He added that: “Practically, all of us gathered here are traumatised and need both psychological and spiritual healing…therefore I appeal to you, to use your good office in any way possible to help find a lasting solution to this conflict that has destroyed our beautiful English-speaking Regions. We appeal to you to continue to support our peace initiatives, so that together, we may one day enjoy lasting peace in the North West and South West Regions and in Cameroon”.

Muslim communities paying heavy price 

Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the Moslem community in the North West and South West Regions, the Chief Imam of the Buea Central Mosque, Mohammed Aboubakar, recounted atrocities involving Muslims; committed amidst the ongoing armed conflict in theNorth West and South West Regions.

The Muslim religious leader recalled to Pope Leo that “...on the 14th of November, 2025, some armed men invaded the Mosque of Sabga…during prayer session and killed three people, injuring nine others. Again, on the 14th of January, 2026, armed men targeted cattle rearers from the Mbororo ethnic group and killed at least fifteen people, including children”.

He, however, expressed gratitude that the armed conflict has not degenerated into a religious war. “Holy Father, welcome and help us have peace again,” he concluded.

Consecrated women also caught in the web

For her part, while speaking on behalf of the consecrated women of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, Rev Sister Carine, said the Pope’s visit to Bamenda was a great consolation to her and peers who have been working among the poor and destitute in the Region.

“We are involved mostly in pastoral work in the Dioceses, hospitals and education apostolates…your presence here is a great encouragement to us who exercise our apostolate in very trying circumstances,” she told the Holy Father.

The nun stated that since the start of the crisis “we do our work with a lot of fear...”. 

Recounting a personal ordeal, she recalled that: “On the 14th of November, 2026, while returning from Bamenda to Elak Oku, where we teach in a Primary School…we were abducted by some gunmen around Babungo, and carried into the bush, where we were held hostage for three days…we were released after three days, following some negotiations”.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3763 of Friday April 17, 2026