Bishop Benoit Balla: Last goodbyes to prelate ensue after removal of corpse

A requiem mass took place at the Our Lady of Victory Cathedral in Yaounde led by the Archbishop of Yaounde His Lordship Jean Mbarga, after the removal of the remains of the late Bafia Bishop from the Yaounde General hospital mortuary yesterday 02 July 2017.

The Head of State, Paul Biya who has Catholic Christians “squeezing his neck” over this issue, was represented by the Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso.

This comes after over two months of uncertainty about the cause of the death of His Lordship Benoit Balla. The Catholic clergy in Cameroon is still not in accordance with the fact that the late Bishop committed suicide. They say he was rather “brutally assassinated”.

After the Requiem mass, the corpse was taken to Bafia. Before reaching the Cathedral of the man of God’s Diocese, a stop was made by the Ebebda river, where the Christians of that Diocese received the corpse.

At 6pm, a series of masses began after every three hours at the Bafia Cathedral (6pm, 9pm, 12am, 3am, and 6am). At 10am today, Thursday 03 July, a final Requiem mass will take place followed by burial.

Before the removal of the corpse on Wednesday, over a hundred military men were reported to have been sent to Bafia to ensure security, given that there were rumours of Christians of that locality, planning to organise a protest, demanding why State authorities are wasting time to fish out the Late Bishop’s murderer.