Pope Francis has intervened in an ethnic crisis rocking the Nigerian Catholic Church in Ahiara, Imo State, whose Bishop, Peter Okpaleke, is unwanted by the lay people and priests of the diocese.
Though Okpaleke, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, is an Igbo from Anambra State, the Catholic leaders in Ahiara rejected him because he is not an Igbo man from Mbaise.
The Vatican Insider said the pope received on Wednesday a delegation from the Diocese of Ahiara, accompanied by Archbishop of Abuja and Apostolic Administrator of Ahiara, Cardinal John Onaiyekan.
Others at the meeting were Metropolitan Archbishop of Owerri, Monsignor Anthony Obinna; Archbishop of Jos and President of the Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Monsignor Ignatius Kaigama; and the Bishop of Ahiara, Bishop Okpaleke.
Priests Clement Ebii, Jude Uwalaka, Uhuegbu Innocent Olekamma, Sister Bernadette Ezeyi and Stanley Pius Iwu were also part of the delegation.
After a pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul and a visit to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the Nigerian delegation attended the Pope’s private Mass celebration.
The delegation had previously met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Fernando Filoni, and the superiors of the same dicastery, with whom the Church’s situation in Ahiara was widely examined.
Pope Francis spoke of the inadmissibility of the situation in Ahiara and reserved to take the appropriate measures.
He said he was entrusting the Diocese of Ahiara to “the motherly care of Mary.”
Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, appointed Monsignor Okpaleke in 2012, only to meet a storm of opposition by the leaders and congregation.
He was not even allowed to celebrate mass in the church.
His predecessor, late Victor Adibe Chikwe, came from Mbaise and was accepted by the worshippers, because he was a son of the soil.
Pope Francis appointed John Onaiyekan apostolic administrator of the diocese since July 2013.
But the crisis has lingered.
Since Okpaleke’s appointment in 2012, the priests and Catholic faithful from Mbaise have insisted they wanted a bishop of Mbaise extraction.
Nonetheless, Okpaleke was ordained a Bishop on May 21, 2013 in Owerri, the mother Diocese to Ahiara Diocese.
His ordination was graced by the cream of the Catholic Church in Nigeria, including Cardinal Onaiyekan; Archbishop of Jos and President Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, Ignatius Kaigama; Archbishop of Owerri and Metropolitan of the Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, His Grace, Archbishop Anthony J.V. Obinna; and the Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, His Grace, Archbishop Augustine Kasuija.
