Clarification on the killing of a priest in Obala, Cameroon.

Vatican News.

Catholic Bishop Sosthène Léopold Bayemi Matjei has said Father Olivier Ntsa Ebode, who was killed in a town of Obala's Lékié central region of Cameroon, was a priest of a separate Christian community and not of the Catholic Church.

Earlier this week, several Church news outlets in Africa spoke about the killing of Fr Olivier, mistakenly identified as a Cameroonian Catholic priest.

Our brother in humanity

“We have learned with grief the heinous murder in Obala of Fr. Olivier Ntsa Ebodé, a priest of a separate Christian community,” said the Catholic Bishop of Obala, Sosthène Léopold Bayemi Matjei, in his message of condolence to Cameroon’s “Gallican Catholic Church.”

“This brother in humanity” is not a priest of the Diocese of Obala, let alone of the Roman Catholic Church, said Bishop Sosthène Léopold Bayemi Matjei while at the same time strongly condemning the murder. He called on authorities to bring to justice the killers of Father Olivier.

“Although this brother in humanity is not a priest of the Diocese of Obala, even less of the Roman Catholic Church, we strongly condemn his murder and wish for his killers to be found and brought to justice in our country,” said Bishop Bayemi Matjei.

A community that claims to be Catholic

The Gallican Church, founded in 2000, is the successor to the 1916 Saint-Louis Cultural Association of France. It is a community that claims to be Catholic but is not recognised by any church.

It has changed its name several times during its history. It was called: the Gallican Church, the Apostolic and Gallican Catholic Church, the French Apostolic Catholic Church, the French Catholic Church, the Traditional Catholic Church, and the Autocephalous Gallican Catholic Church.