Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Yaounde (Agenzia Fides) - “We are grateful to the Holy Father for having accepted the invitation made by the local Bishops' Conference and the Head of State, to visit Cameroon,” says Archbishop Eliseo Antonio Ariotti, Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. “I have already begun preparations for the Holy Father's visit. The Bishops' Conference in Cameroon has already begun taking measures to assure that the Pope's trip can be an occasion of spiritual growth for the country,” Archbishop Ariotti said, mentioning how “the Church in Cameroon is alive, with a notable religious fervor.”
The Nuncio observed that “Pope Benedict XVI's visit harkens back to that of his predeccesor, John Paul II, in 1995, when he presented the Apostolic Post-Synodal Exhortation 'Ecclesia in Africa,' at the conclusion of the Synod on Africa in 1994. Once again, the Holy Father has chosen Cameroon to be the place to host the presentation of the preparatory document of the Synod for Africa, which will take place in October 2009. This choice could be because Cameroon is a country in the heart of Africa, where both French and English are spoken, and seems to be a logical choice for presenting the new document to all the African Bishops.”
Cameroon has a population of 17,173,000 inhabitants. There are 4,699,000 Catholics, in 24 dioceses with 808 parishes. There are 30 Bishops, 1,151 diocesan priests, 581 religious priests, 312 professed brothers, 2,155 religious sisters, 19,597 catechists. The Catholic Church runs 349 kindergartens with 34,889 students; 1,005 elementary schools with 270,252 students; 139 middle schools and high schools with 72,116 students. The Catholic Church also runs 23 hospitals, 228 clinics, 10 leper colonies, 11 shelters, 12 orphanages, 45 family consultation offices (statistics taken from the most recent Annuary of Church Statistics). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 27/10/2008)
