Between Central Africa and Cameroon

  

Alindao

Between Central Africa and Cameroon

 

I am writing from Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, where yesterday I consecrated two priests and two Carmelite deacons.

Last Sunday, 22 June, we concluded the Assembly of the Central African Bishops' Conference with the celebration of a solemn Mass, and at the end we read the bishops' message. We wanted to highlight the elements of hope, as seeds that can help the country to grow and live in peace.

In the evening, the seminarians from the diocese of Bangassou who are studying in Bangui arrive from Bambari. They had not come on holiday to the diocese for years, and this year I wanted to pick up and have half of them come to Bangassou. Some have not seen their family and village for more than 6 years!

On Monday morning, we set off at 5 a.m. from Alindao. The road is decent, and in four hours we arrive in Bambari, 120 km away. Even the last 10 km have been repaired: unfortunately that is all that has been done in a year, on a construction site solemnly inaugurated by the president (of the 160 km planned, only 10 have been repaired).

We continue on to Grimari, where the Combonian missionaries welcome us and after a quick bite to eat, we continue on to Sibut. From here on, the last 120 km are paved.

We arrive in Bangui at 9pm: 16 hours for 520 km!

On Wednesday morning, the country is shaken by a tragedy: an electrical transformer exploded in the city's largest high school, the Boganda High School. Here there were more than 5,000 students taking their baccalaureate exams. In the panic and stampede, at least 29 young people died, and there are hundreds of injured!

The country is hurt by this tragedy, due to incompetence and lack of minimum prevention...

Thursday morning I leave by plane for Douala, Cameroun. Here I find the Carmelite brethren who have come to pick me up, and take me to Yaounde.

In Cameroon we have two Carmelite communities, and three cloistered monasteries. I was invited for the priestly ordination of two young Cameroonian Carmelites, and two deacons (Central African, one of whom, Br Aristide, was born and raised in Bangassou!).

Friday I dedicate the morning to the Carmelite nuns, while Saturday is devoted to the ordination ceremony and the various celebrations.

Bambari

 

Bishops, pilgrims of hope

 

 

Strade!
Routes!

 

Bishops, pilgrims of hope

 

Every year, the bishops of Central Africa meet twice in General Assembly, in January and June. In January, the meeting is in Bangui, while in June it is in one of the country's dioceses, in turn.

This year, the week-long meeting takes place in Alindao, the diocese close to Bangassou.

We are just over 220 km from Bangassou, but the roads are the worst in the diocese. In theory, it is one of the most important roads in the country, connecting the capital, Bangui, to South Sudan, crossing the entire east of the country.

In theory. Because the road is so bad that it takes weeks to go from Bangui to Bangassou, and it is only 750 km!

Knowing the situation, I leave Friday afternoon for Gambo, a parish 75 km from Bangassou. Here I spend the night, and Saturday morning we leave around 7am.

The first kilometres make us realise that the journey will be hard. A dozen kilometres in we find two trucks stuck, stuck in the mud. But they manage to get out and we continue on, getting bogged down in our turn. Shovel, jack, etc. and after half an hour we set off again.

Further on we find five more trucks stuck in the mud. We manage, with great difficulty, to get through, but we get stuck in a huge hole, deeper than the car! We manage to get out, however, and continue on, passing through the villages of Pombolo, Kembe, Dimbi and Kongbo. We cross the bridge over the magnificent waterfalls of the Kotto river, a few hundred metres from a group of armed rebels, whom we greet politely at a safe distance!

We arrive at 5.30 p.m. in Alindao: 10 hours for 145 km!

I am the first to arrive. The other bishops left Bangui on Saturday. After spending the night in Bambari, they arrive on Sunday afternoon.

We are 10 bishops, and there is much fraternity and good humour, despite the country's many problems. We pray together, meet at a brisk pace, and share the joys, hopes and sorrows of the country, still shaken by war and violence. Right in front of Alindao Cathedral, there are still 3 or 4,000 refugees, who moved here in 2017!

The theme of the meeting is: Pilgrims of Hope for our people in these difficult times!

The work will keep us busy throughout the week, until the celebration on Sunday, 22 June, at Alindao Cathedral.

 

 

Piccoli muratori!
Les petits maçons

La cascate del fiume Kotto
Les chutes de la Kotto

Alindao

La scuola di Lanome
L?école de Lanomé

 

Confirmations and War

 

 

Preparazione dell'olio di palma
Préparation de l'huile de palme

Confirmations and War

This has been a fairly quiet week.

Yesterday, Sunday, June 8, was the feast of Pentecost: fifty days after Easter the Apostles received the Holy Spirit.

Yesterday we solemnly celebrated the feast in the Cathedral, and we administered Confirmations to 59 people.

Concerned about the situation in the Eastern part of the Diocese, we prepared a letter, which was read yesterday in all the parishes, and spread as much as possible.

The situation remains tense, with tens of thousands of refugees and dozens of victims.

In the letter we asked everyone to calm down, and to discuss.

Let us pray and hope!

Enough!

Alingbi awe!

Letter from the Bishops of Bangassou to the Catholics of the Diocese and to men and women of good will

We, the Bishops of Bangassou, together with the entire Catholic community, are deeply concerned about the violence affecting the Haut Mbomou region.

We cannot accept that the South-East of our country, the Central African Republic, is the scene of violence of all kinds, a land from which people flee, a land of desolation.

We mourn dozens of deaths in these last weeks.

But the South-East has been in mourning for decades, a land coveted and exploited first by the Tongo-Tongo rebels of the LRA, then by the Seleka and finally by the Ani Kpi Gbe; this last movement, born to protect the population from the violence of the UPC and other armed groups in the past, risks becoming a danger for the population itself. In recent weeks we have mourned the dead: soldiers of the Internal Security Forces, and many, too many, civilians. Civilians shot, wounded, tortured and slaughtered with total impunity.

We mourn with the thousands of civilians forced to flee from Zemio, Mboki and Djema, including tens of thousands headed to Congo.

We mourn with the villages bombed, looted and burned.

We must stop all this: it is not with violence that violence will end. On the contrary! Violence only generates more violence, division and misery, hatred, mistrust and, ultimately, a hellish circle of revenge.

The apostle James, in his letter (4:1-3), proclaims this powerful word of God:

"From what do wars and fights arise among you? Do they not come from your passions that war in your members?
You desire and cannot have, and you kill; you envy and cannot obtain, and you fight and wage war.
You do not have because you do not ask; you ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your pleasures."

We ask all parties involved: Azande Ani Kpi Gbe, FACA, Wagner and the population, to put an end to the violence and to commit themselves so that this remote and isolated region, without roads or communications, can live in peace and become a land where every woman, every man, every child, every young person, can look to life and the future with hope. The Catholic Church, which in recent weeks has opened the doors of the Missions of Zemio, Mboki and Obo, is always ready and available to welcome those of good will around a table to discuss and work for peace, reconciliation and development in the region.

It is not a time for war, but for discussion!

It is no longer a time for violence, but for listening!

It is not a time to indulge in suspicions, resentments, generic accusations and jealousies, but to listen to the poor who cry out and ask for peace!

We pray and implore peace. But we are women and men of peace, in our thoughts, in our words and in our actions!

Peace be with you!

Bangassou, June 5, 2025

Bishop Juan José Aguirre, Bishop of Bangassou 
Bishop Aurelio Gazzera, Coadjutor Bishop of Bangassou

Le cresime alla Cattedrale di Bangassou
Les Confirmations à la Cathédrale de Bangassou