In a statement issued Thursday, April 4, Archbishop Jean Mbarga recounts the desecration, saying, “On the night of April 2 to 3, 2024, the Mary Queen of Peace Shrine in Nsimalen was attacked and desecrated by unidentified vandals.”
Archbishop Mbarga adds, “The unidentified individuals destroyed four icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary, as well as the 14 stations of the Stations of the Cross.”
“I firmly condemn this act which reminds us that Christ has not finished suffering in his love for humanity. The violence perpetrated is an unacceptable sacrilege that God will overcome,” the Cameroonian Catholic Archbishop says.
He continues, “The Virgin Mary, all her devotees and men and women of good will have just experienced in sorrow, the Passion of her Son Jesus Christ in our land.”
“In truth, the path of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ led him to the Resurrection, and the Blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” the Local Ordinary of Yaoundé Archdiocese since 2014 further says.
He looks back at the dedication of the “sacred place”. He says, “This shrine, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary since 1986, is a sacred place that promotes the values of prayer and peace in our Church and in our society.”
“Truly, the Shrine of Mary Queen of Peace at Nsimalen lives and will always live,” the Catholic Church leader, who started his Episcopal Ministry in December 2004 as Bishop of Cameroon’s Ebolowa-Kribi Diocese says.
He goes on to invite “all Christians, the sons and daughters of the Virgin Mary to offer to God today a Rosary novena, so that his divine Mercy and holy Providence may triumph.”
The Catholic Archbishop also invites the people of God under his pastoral care to “unite their efforts for the penance, reparation and restoration of the Shrine.”
“May the Blessed Virgin Mary, from heaven, rekindle the fervent faith of his people, the conversion of one another and the promotion of peace in our country and in the world,” Archbishop Mbarga implores.