In a publication made on April 17, while the pope is visiting Cameroon, the politician casts a critical eye on the church leaders in Cameroon.
The speech that Pope Leo XIV delivered at the Unity Palace on April 15, 2026, calling for peace, self-examination, good governance, and youth guidance, continues to resonate within public opinion. This Friday, in a publication, the vice-president of the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon, Mamadou Mota, draws inspiration from this “truth” of the Holy Father about Cameroon to criticize the bishops and pastors.
Read more Cameroon: Pope Leo XIV strengthens interreligious and social dialogue
According to him, in Cameroon, faith is rare and politics omnipresent. “Our prelates, having become courtiers, ignore the people, Rome thousands of kilometers from Yaoundé hears the cry of the orphan and the widow better than Monsignor Mbarga. Behind this theater of bows, the jungle advances and the soul of the country is dying,” the politician protests, going further by attempting to classify the prelates closest to the people and those who are rather close to politicians and rulers. “We only have 5-6 true bishops left, the others are politicians in cassocks,” he concludes regarding the Catholic Church. Behind the words of the opponent to the Yaoundé regime hides opposition against the men of God who reserve themselves to proclaim the Gospel by denouncing the abuses and excesses of the strong over the weak.
Read more Papal visit to Cameroon: the blunders of a regime adrift
Since Cameroonian society is a mosaic of religions, the politician’s criticism does not stop at the prelates of the Catholic Church. Christian faith is also declining in the Evangelical Church in favor of other gods. According to Mamadou Mota, the abyss is now bottomless. “They have only God and people in the ten ten bills,” declares the opponent who seems to be comforted in his opposition stance by the critical speech of the Vicar of Christ towards the rulers in Cameroon.
