Kidnap of Catholic priest: Pope appeals for release, Bishop gives ultimatum!.

Three days later, four priests and one lay person went to negotiate with the vandals for the release of the two priests but were also taken hostage before being let off while Father Tatah remains in captivity. His captors are demanding ransom.

Their criminal abduction of men of God drew the scathing condemnation of Pope Leo XIV and the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bamenda, His Grace Andrew Nkea Fuanya.

In a pastoral statement issued on Monday, Nkea said if the priest was not released by today "...Wednesday, November 26, 2025, all priests and religious staff working in Ndop Deanery must shut down parishes, schools, and Catholic institutions, withdraw the Blessed Sacrament from all chapels, leave tabernacles open, and evacuate the area”. 

The drastic measure, he said, is necessary because neither the Diocese nor the Christian communities can guarantee their safety any longer.

The prelate further announced that if by Friday, November 28, 2025, the priest remains in captivity, he, along with all priests, religious, and lay faithful, will march to Baba I, the area where Father Berinyuy is believed to be held.

“We shall either bring him back home, or remain there until he is released,” he declared.

Often criticised for taking a compromising stand on the political situation of the country, (unlike Archbishop Kleda of Douala, Bishop Paul Lontsié-Keuné of Bafoussam, Abraham Kome of Bafang and Barthelemy Yaouda Hourgo of Yagoua), Nkea this time urged defence and security forces “to be ethical in their relationship towards the people”. 

He appealed to them not to exploit or brutalise civilians. 

“The frequent kidnappings of our priests and mission personnel has pushed us to the wall and we say that this should stop with immediate effect. I call on all the stakeholders in this crisis to do everything within their powers to bring this crisis to an end. The people of the North West and South West Regions have suffered enough and deserve to live in tranquillity and peace,” he noted.

The Pope was, however, diplomatic in expressing his “immense sadness” over the kidnapping of priests in Cameroon, and urged authorities to ensure their liberation.

Speaking after Mass on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope said he had “learned with immense sadness the news of the kidnapping of priests, faithful, and students in Nigeria and Cameroon...I feel deep sorrow”.

He appealed for the release of over 300 children and teachers abducted from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, saying he was “deeply saddened to learn of the kidnapping”, mentioning not only Nigeria, but also Cameroon, where Catholic priests from the Archdiocese of Bamenda were kidnapped in Ndop, Cameroon.

“I feel great pain, above all for the many young men and women who have been abducted and for their distressed families,” Pope Leo said, adding that: “I make a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages and urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release”.

Unlike in Nigeria where Boko Haram, listed as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations, abducts children on religious grounds, it is more complex to deal with separatist fighters who do not have that international classification and intricacy.

Their kidnapping of priests, as criminal, sinful and condemning as it is, swirls purely on economic grounds. The Catholic Church, like many governments, does not accept it pays ransom to free captives.

But they do so covertly on humanitarian grounds, which is why a headline like "Memo discovered on Vatican ransom payment is missing" raises no eyebrows.

In March 2023, Associated Press reported that "A second high-ranking Holy See official told a Vatican court that Pope Francis had authorised spending hundreds of thousands of euros in ransom payments to try to free a nun who was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Mali.

"Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, the Holy See’s No.3, told the Vatican tribunal that he had sought, and received Francis’ approval to wire the money soon after he took up his duties as the “substitute” in the secretariat of state in late 2018," it was reported. 

If the Catholic Church can pay that much to release a nun, why can't it do even less, on humanitarian grounds, to liberate the priest in captivity in Ngoketunjia?

More importantly, the Catholic Church has not piled enough pressure on the Cameroon government, headed by one of theirs, to understand the insidious insecurity situation in the two English-speaking Regions? 

The crisis, it must be said, requires a political and not a military solution. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3637 of Wednesday November 26, 2025