Cornelius Fontem Esua is a Cameroonian

Prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He served as

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the

Bamenda Bamenda, also known as Abakwa and Mankon Town, is a city in northwestern Cameroon and capital of the Northwest Region, Cameroon, Northwest Region. The city has a population of about 2 million people and is located north-west of the Cameroonian ca ...

Metropolitan See Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a t ...

since 2006 and retired in 2020.

Life

Born in Mbetta, Esua was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood on December 29, 1971. On September 10, 1982, Esua was appointed

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Kumbo Kumbo, also known as Kimbo, is the second-largest city in the North West Province of Cameroon and the capital of Bui Division. It lies about 2000m above sea level and is situated approximately 110 km away from Bamenda (the provincial capital ...

. Esua received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

on the following December 8 from archbishop

Donato Squicciarini Donato Squicciarini (24 April 1927 – 5 March 2006) was an Italian Catholic archbishop who acted as Nuncio to Austria from 1989 to 2002. Squicciarini was born at Altamura, Apulia on 24 April 1927. He was ordained priest 12 April 1952, and ordaine ...

, the then apostolic nuncio to Cameroon, with the then recently appointed archbishop of Bamenda,

Paul Mbiybe Verdzekov Paul Mbiybe Verdzekov (January 22, 1931 – January 26, 2010) was a Cameroonian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon from 1970 until 1982 and as archbishop from ...

, and the bishop of

Buéa Buea is the capital of the Southwest Region of Cameroon. The city is located in Fako Division, on the eastern slopes of Mount Cameroon, and has a population of 300,000 (at the 2013 Census). It has two Government Hotels, the Mountain Hotel and ...

, Pius Suh Awa, serving as

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...

. Esua was named coadjutor archbishop of Bamenda by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on December 7, 2004; he succeeded

as archbishop of Bamenda on January 23, 2006.

Views

Esua expressed his full intentions as Chief Pastor to advocate

doctrinal Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system ...

views on issues like the Nkuv Affair. Quite a good number of the prominent members of the World Apostolate of Fatima (The Blue Army) became ringleaders of the unorthodox Nkuv devotion, since the latter was in some manner associated with the Fatima apparitions. It was on account of this association that the 13th of every month, and most especially the 13th of May, was taken as the official day of prayer for the Nkuvites. Since 7 October 1997, when Esua, then Bishop of Kumbo issued a pastoral Letter declaring the unorthodoxy of the Nkuv Affair and outlining the criteria for determining the authenticity of

Marian apparitions A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance by Mary, the mother of Jesus, or a series of related such appearances during a period of time. In the Catholic Church, in order for a reported appearance to be classified as a Marian ap ...

, some of its adherents have withdrawn and regained

full communion Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constitutes full communion, but ...

, some adhere both to Nkuv and to the church, and some have publicly excluded themselves from the church and pledged allegiance to Nkuv. Esua and the other bishops of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province (BAPEC), issued a letter to all Christians concerning the

sacrament of marriage Marriage in the Catholic Church, also known as holy matrimony, is the "covenant by which a man and woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procre ...

and

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

. All the bishops requested that before the publication of marriage banns, couples must present to the

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

a valid and authentic

medical certificate A medical certificate or doctor's certificate is a written statement from a physician or another medically qualified health care provider which attests to the result of a medical examination of a patient. It can serve as a sick note ( UK: fit no ...

showing that they have done HIV/AIDS screening.

References

External links

Catholic-HierarchyBigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu
(in Nigerian)
''L'Effort Camerounais'', Newspaper of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esua, Cornelius Fontem 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Cameroon 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Africa 1943 births Living people Pontifical Biblical Institute alumni People from Bamenda Cameroonian Roman Catholic archbishops Roman Catholic bishops of Kumbo Roman Catholic archbishops of Bamenda

Life

Views

See also

References

External links