The sovereign pontiff Leo XIV arrives in the coming days (from April 15 to 18) in Cameroon at the invitation of the Cameroonian government. Consequently, some compatriots rejoice and expect from the Pope’s visit a hope and a means of deliverance for our country subjected to internal conflicts, crises, social tensions, assassinations (especially of women and children), rapes, juvenile delinquency, corruption, and bad governance, and many other ills undermining Cameroon. They hope that the prayers the Pope will offer on Cameroonian soil will contribute to saving our country from all these ills. Some even go as far as thinking that the Pope’s upcoming visit is part of a political deliverance expressed through the sidelining of our country’s leaders or calling them to order regarding the country’s bad governance.
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First, it must be reminded to those compatriots who see the Pope’s visit as a sign of hope and deliverance that his visit to Germany, for example, would not be perceived in the same way. It would not generate such great enthusiasm as is the case here. Why? Because since the Renaissance – ending the Christian era of the Middle Ages – Germany and the West in general have placed man back at the center of their concerns, as was the case in Ancient Greece. It is up to man to find solutions to the problems he encounters and not to God, whom he does not see. With the advent of the consumer society and the rise of the new god on earth, “money,” man works more than ever to live. Man is therefore at the center of improving his living conditions and human progress. This is also what justifies the inventions and discoveries that have multiplied since modern times. In the West, therefore, people do not expect the Pope to come and solve the problems encountered in society or to proceed with the rotation or circulation of elites.
Next, it must be said that the Pope’s visit to Cameroon is part of the bilateral cooperation linking our country to the Vatican. It is a cooperation perceived through diplomatic representations in both states. There is a Cameroonian ambassador to the Vatican and an apostolic nuncio of the Holy See in Cameroon. We are therefore within the framework of diplomacy and international relations, which have codes, a language, channels, and operating modes. In the relations linking the State of Cameroon to the State of the Vatican, the Pope has always made visits to Cameroon and President Biya to the Vatican. Within the framework of this bilateral cooperation, therefore, the two states have only interests to defend, as a key principle of international relations states.
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Finally, Cameroonians who hope that the Pope’s arrival in our country will be a deliverance must know that they should not be deluded. No one will come to save Cameroon but the Cameroonians themselves. No one will come to build Cameroon but the Cameroonians themselves. No one will come to deliver Cameroon from wars, crises, social tensions, crimes, assassinations, rapes, juvenile delinquency, and bad governance but the Cameroonians themselves, by placing true leaders at the head of their country. Martin Luther King said: “no nation is born great; great nations are the work of their citizens.” It is therefore up to us Cameroonians to build this country.
In short, nothing should be expected from the Pope’s upcoming visit to Cameroon. It will not end any of the problems mentioned above. His visit is part of the normal order of bilateral cooperation linking two states. We must know how to distinguish things and choose what we really want for our country. God has his place in the life of a nation because, as I often say: “if God did not exist, we would have had to create him.” But he cannot be the builder of society or the one who will come to deliver us from colonial and neo-colonial domination. The Chinese have understood this, and many other countries are also beginning to understand it. We must emerge from lethargy. We must stop believing in miracles and think about our society to heal the ills from which it suffers.
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Séverin Hyacinthe BATSOK, research teacher
