“Woe to those who bend religions and the very name of God to their own military, economic and political interests, dragging what is sacred into darkness and filth.” Pope Leo’s words were very harsh in his speech in Bamenda, in the north-west of Cameroon, the epicenter of a separatist insurrection that has lasted for almost a decade. A meeting for peace with the English-speaking community of the country which has suffered, according to UN estimates, the death of at least six thousand people. The Pontiff reminded them that «the warlords pretend not to know that a moment is enough to destroy, but often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild. They pretend not to see that billions of dollars are needed to kill and devastate, but the resources necessary to heal cannot be foundto educate, to lift up. Those who rob your land of its resources generally invest a good part of the profits in weapons, in a spiral of destabilization and endless death.” This, for Leone, «is a world turned upside down, a distortion of God’s creation which every honest conscience must denounce and repudiate, choosing that U-turn – conversion – which leads in the opposite direction, on the sustainable and rich path of human brotherhood. The world is destroyed by a few rulers and is held up by a myriad of supportive brothers and sisters! They are the descendants of Abraham, incalculable like the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the sea shore.” He repeats again, as he had already done on the journey to Algeria: “Blessed are the peacemakers!”.
And praise them joint initiatives between Christians and Muslims to achieve peace. He greets the people who have arrived on foot to listen to him and underlines that they are «beautiful even if dusty from this bloody but fruitful land, from this outraged land, but rich in vegetation and generous with fruit. They are the feet that have brought you this far and that, despite encountering trials and obstacles, have kept you on the path of good.” He thanks those present because «it’s true! I am here to announce peace, but I immediately find that you announce it to me and to the whole world. In fact, as one of you mentioned a little while ago, the crisis that has shocked these regions of Cameroon has brought the Christian and Muslim communities, so much so that your religious leaders have united and founded a Peace Movement, through which they try to mediate between the opposing parties.”
An example that others should also follow. And, after praising the work of those, in particular the nuns, who are concerned with treating people traumatized by war and violence, he resumes his words of the imam who had explained, during the greeting, that, thank God, the crisis has not “degenerated into a religious war”. From this unity we can start again by moving forward “without getting tired, with courage, and above all together, always together!”.
