Medical investigators have found “signs of torture” on the body of a Cameroonian bishop who died in mysterious circumstances.
Catholic leaders in the country have urged prayers for Bishop Jean-Marie Benoît Balla of Bafia, whose remains were pulled from a river three days after his alleged suicide.
“This is a catastrophe for Cameroon, and particularly for our Catholic Church,” a statement on the bishops’ conference website said.
“We place our confidence in those helping the country and Church by inquiring into the explicit causes of the death of this man of God, about whose level-headedness, thoughtfulness, wisdom, patience and gentleness no one had a bad word to say,” it added.
Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala, the bishops’ conference president, had gone with Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé to identify the body of Bishop Balla after it was found by a fisherman in the Sanaga River, the bishops’ conference said.
The statement said that the 58-year-old bishop’s overnight disappearance from his residence had not yet been “clarified” and the Church still awaited an explanation for his “appalling, disturbing death”.
The African Press Agency, based in Dakar, Senegal, said media reports that Bishop Balla had taken his own life were questioned by police and justice officials. The agency said Cameroon’s procurator general had confirmed that investigations were underway into the prelate’s “suspicious death”.
Ordained in 1987, Bishop Balla was appointed to Bafia by St John Paul II in 2003 after serving as a school chaplain and seminary rector in the diocese.
The daily Journal du Cameroun said the bishop’s Land Cruiser had been found parked on a bridge in Yaoundé. A handwritten message in French, “I am in the water”, was among identification cards on its passenger seat, authorities said.
The report added that Bishop Balla, whose body was discovered floating 10 miles downstream, had been a popular figure at Bafia. He showed “great concern and care” for the sick and poor from the city’s St Sebastian cathedral.
A local priest, Fr Remy Ngomo, told the online Camernews agency that the bishop had appeared “very preoccupied and full of suffering” when he spoke to him in late May, adding that he had been “totally devastated” by the recent unexplained death of his seminary director, Mgr Armel Collins Ndjama, who was found dead in his room on May 10.
“I invite all friends of the Church, whether Christians or not, to show a grand serenity of peace, hope and charity, and avoid useless judgments and debates which can only profit the Devil and his allies,” Fr Ngomo said. “God will reveal his intentions and wishes, and give us his grace and blessing, so the public authorities can discover the truths still hidden behind this terrible event.”
The Camernews agency reported that a medical investigator had cited “signs of torture” on Bishop Balla’s body, and indications that he had been dead before entering the water.
Catholics account for 38 per cent of Cameroon’s 20.4 million inhabitants.
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