VATICAN CITY — Eight months after ordering priests in a Nigerian diocese
to pledge their obedience to the pope and accept the bishop that now-retired
Pope Benedict XVI had named for them, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of
the disputed bishop.
Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke, who since 2012 has been prevented
from exercising his ministry as bishop of Ahiara because most of the priests in
the diocese refused to accept him, said in a statement, "I am convinced in
conscience that my remaining the bishop of Ahiara Diocese is no longer
beneficial to the church."
Bishop Okpaleke's appointment was met by protests and petitions
calling for the appointment of a bishop from among the local clergy. Ahiara is
in Mbaise, a predominantly Catholic region of Imo state in southern Nigeria.
Bishop Okpaleke is from Anambra state, which borders Imo to the north.
The Vatican announced Feb. 19 that Pope Francis had accepted the
resignation of Bishop Okpaleke, who will turn 55 March 1. The pope named as
apostolic administrator of the diocese Bishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Umuahia.
"Exercising the ministry in a diocese where priests who are
supposed to be my immediate and closest collaborators, brothers, friends and
sons are at war with one another, with the laity and with me as their chief
shepherd would be disastrous and a threat to the salvation of souls — including
my own soul," Bishop Okpaleke wrote to members of the Nigerian bishops'
conference in a letter dated Feb. 14.
"I do not think that my apostolate in a diocese where some
of the priests and lay faithful are ill disposed to have me in their midst
would be effective," the bishop wrote in a letter to the diocese also Feb.
14, according to Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples.
In June, Pope Francis had given each priest of the diocese, both
those resident in Ahiara and those working outside the diocese, 30 days to
write him a letter promising obedience to him and accepting the duly-appointed
bishop or face suspension.
According to a statement from the Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples, the pope "received 200 letters from individual
priests of the Diocese of Ahiara, in which they manifested to him obedience and
fidelity."
"Some priests, however, pointed out their psychological
difficulty in collaborating with the bishop after years of conflict," said
the congregation's statement Feb. 19.
Therefore, the statement continued, "taking into account
their repentance, the Holy Father decided not to proceed with the canonical
sanctions and instructed the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples to
respond to each of them. In this line, the congregation has urged every priest
to reflect on the grave damage inflicted on the church of Christ and expressed
hope that in the future they will never again repeat such unreasonable actions
opposing a bishop legitimately appointed by the supreme pontiff."
Bishop Okpaleke, in his letter Feb. 14 to Catholics of his
diocese, said his resignation was necessary to facilitate the
"re-evangelization of the faithful and, most importantly and urgently, the
priests of Ahiara Diocese, especially now that the Holy Father and his
collaborators in the Roman Curia can already decipher priests who affirmed
their loyalty to the Holy Father and those who decided to bow out of the
Catholic Church in disobedience."
He urged dissident priests "to re-examine their initial
motivations for becoming priests in the Catholic Church. Repentance and
reconciliation are urgent."
Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, retired archbishop of Lagos,
Nigeria, said the bishop's resignation showed "love for the church as well
as for the Shepherd himself."
The cardinal recalled that he had a similar experience in 1971,
when he was ordained and installed the auxiliary bishop of Oyo Diocese, but the
faithful there rejected him.
"I left there and, today, am I not still alive and serving
the Holy Roman Catholic Church where God has put me?" the cardinal told
Catholic News Service. "When I was transferred from there, there was calm
and peace for my person and the church in Oyo Diocese then."
Father Kingsley Anyanwu, editor of The Guide, the Ahiara diocesan
newspaper, said most people in the diocese were happy with the development. He
said they wished Bishop Okpaleke well in any future position he might have in
the church.
"The faithful of Ahiara Diocese did not see the resignation
as anybody losing, but they are seeing it as peace being restored to the
Catholic Diocese of Ahiara," Father Anyanwu said.