Pope Francis has laid down an ultimatum to
defiant Nigerian priests saying that they will lose
their jobs if you don’t obey him and their bishop.
Pope Francis leads the Easter mass in Saint
Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 16, 2017.
REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini
The catholicherald.co.uk report that clergy in
Nigerian diocese must write to Holy Father
asking for forgiveness by July 9. The report stated that Pope Francis gave the
priests in the Nigerian Diocese of Ahiara 30 days
to write a letter promising obedience to him and
accepting the bishop appointed for their diocese.
Priests who do not write the letter will be
suspended, according to Fides, the news agency
of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of
Peoples.
The papal text in English was posted on the blog
of Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, president
of the Nigerian bishops’ conference, and Fides
posted it in Italian.
The Vatican press office could not immediately
confirm its authenticity, although Cardinal John
Onaiyekan of Abuja, who also was present, told
the Catholic News Service that they were the
remarks of the Pope.
A day earlier, Nigerian Church leaders met Pope
Francis to discuss the situation of Bishop Peter
Ebere Okpaleke, who was appointed Bishop of
Ahiara by then-Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, but
who has been unable to take control of the
diocese because of protests, apparently by the
majority of priests.
The Vatican issued only a short communiqué on
the meeting with the Pope, describing the
situation in the diocese as “unacceptable.” The
protests were motivated by the fact that Bishop
Okpaleke is not a local priest.
“The Holy Father, after a careful evaluation,
spoke of the unacceptable situation in Ahiara
and reserved the right to take appropriate
measures,” the Vatican said.
According to the Pope’s remarks posted by
Archbishop Kaigama, Pope Francis said, “I think
that, in this case, we are not dealing with
tribalism, but with an attempted taking of the
vineyard of the Lord.” The Pope also referred to
“the parable of the murderous tenants” in
Matthew 21:33-44.
“Whoever was opposed to Bishop Okpaleke
taking possession of the diocese wants to
destroy the Church. This is forbidden,” the Pope
said.
Francis said he even had considered
“suppressing the diocese, but then I thought that
the Church is a mother and cannot abandon her
many children.”
Instead, he said, every priest of the diocese,
whether residing in Nigeria or abroad, must write
a letter to him asking for forgiveness because
“we all must share this common sorrow”.
Each priest’s letter, he said, “must clearly
manifest total obedience to the Pope” and
indicate a willingness “to accept the bishop
whom the Pope sends and has appointed”.
“The letter must be sent within 30 days, from
today to July 9, 2017. Whoever does not do this
will be ipso facto suspended ‘a divinis’ and will
lose his current office,” the Pope said, according
to the posts.
“This seems very hard, but why must the Pope
do this?” Pope Francis asked. “Because the
people of God are scandalised. Jesus reminds us
that whoever causes scandal must suffer the
consequences.”
Bishop Okpaleke, the contested bishop, also met
the Pope and was joined in Rome by other
Nigerian bishops and a handful of priests making
an unusual kind of visit “ad limina
apostolorum” (to the threshold of the apostles)
in early June.
While “ad limina” visits usually are done in
national groups, the Vatican communiqué
described the Ahiara diocesan visit using the
same term. It noted that the nine-man delegation
prayed at the tombs of St Peter and St Paul and
in the Basilica of St Mary Major.
They also participated in a private celebration of
the Mass with Pope Francis. The Vatican did not
say if the Pope gave a homily.
Later in the day, the Pope held a private
audience with the group. Members also met
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of
state, and Cardinal Fernando Filoni and other top
officials from the Congregation for the
Evangelisation of Peoples to examine what the
Vatican called the “painful situation of the
Church in Ahiara”.
When Bishop Okpaleke was appointed to the
diocese, the announcement was greeted with
protests and petitions calling for the appointment
of a bishop from among the local clergy.
Nevertheless, he was ordained a bishop in May
2013, although the ordination took place not in
the Ahiara diocese but at a seminary in the
Archdiocese of Owerri.
Ahiara is in Mbaise, a predominantly Catholic
region of Imo State in southern Nigeria. Bishop
Okpaleke is from Anambra State, which borders
Imo to the north.
A petition to Pope Benedict launched by the
“Coalition of Igbo Catholics” said, “That no priest
of Mbaise origin is a bishop today … is mind-
boggling. Mbaise has embraced, enhanced the
growth of and sacrificed for the Catholic Church,
has more priests per capita than any other
diocese in Nigeria and certainly more than
enough pool of priests qualified to become the
next bishop of the episcopal see of Ahiara
diocese, Mbaise.”
According to the Vatican, the diocese has close
to 423,000 Catholics and 110 diocesan priests.
Trying to calm the situation, in July 2013 Pope
Francis appointed Cardinal Onaiyekan to serve as
apostolic administrator of the diocese, and the
following December he sent Ghanaian Cardinal
Peter Turkson, then-president of the Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace, to Ahiara to listen
to the concerns of the diocesan priests and local
laity.
Cardinal Onaiyekan joined Bishop Okpaleke on
the “ad limina” visit to Rome, as did Archbishop
Anthony Obinna of Owerri and Archbishop
Kaigama. Three priests, a religious Sister and a
traditional elder also made the trip.my
0 comments:
Post a Comment