{"id":23205,"date":"2017-06-13T06:21:48","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T06:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=23205"},"modified":"2017-06-13T06:21:48","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T06:21:48","slug":"cameroon-autopsy-raises-suspicions-bishops-death-acn-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/06\/13\/cameroon-autopsy-raises-suspicions-bishops-death-acn-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"CAMEROON &#8211; Autopsy raises suspicions about bishop&#8217;s death &#8211; ACN Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">CAMEROON &#8211;\u00a0Autopsy raises suspicions about African bishop\u2019s death<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">An autopsy has revealed \u201csigns of torture\u201d on the body of Bishop Jean-Marie Beno\u00eet Balla of Bafia whose body was found in a river last week. Unusual circumstances surrounded the death of the Cameroonian bishop, leading some to think he had committed suicide. Bishop Balla, who was 58, left his residence late in the evening of 30 May and was never seen again. His car was found parked on the Sanaga bridge near Ebebda, about 25 miles northwest of Obala. There was a note in the car which reportedly read: \u201cDo not look for me! I am in the water.\u201d The bishop\u2019s body was found on 2 June 2, about 10 miles from the bridge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Although some people thought the bishop had left a suicide note, others believed he may have been murdered. \u00a0Archbishop Cornelius Esua of Bamenda said that Bishop Balla \u201cdid not seem to us as troubled as that (to have committed suicide),\u201d and noted that bishop suicides are rare. \u201cThe bishops do not commit suicide,&#8221; he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The bishop\u2019s autopsy seems to support suspicions that Balla may have been killed, especially as there have been other unsolved murders of priests in the country. The autopsy indicated that:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the bishop&#8217;s body spent fewer than 4 hours in the water before it was found, even though his body was found several days after he disappeared.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">a lack of water in his lungs, which would have been present had he died by drowning.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">the body had a stiffened arm, folded on its abdomen indicating that Bishop Balla was not fighting against the fury of the waters.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The findings of the autopsy concluded that \u201cBishop Balla was tortured and brutally murdered.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Catholic leaders in the country have called for prayers for Bishop Balla, as the investigations surrounding the bishop\u2019s death are ongoing.\u00a0 Father Ludovic Lado, a Cameroonian Jesuit, \u00a0said \u00a0the suspected cause of Bishop Balla\u2019s death has now changed from suicide to murder. He observed that it was hard to imagine why a \u201cdiscreet and devoted\u201d person like Bishop Balla would be the target of assassins. The bishop was a beloved pastor whom the faithful often called \u201cPapa Benoit,\u201d and he was known especially for his care for the sick and under-privileged. Fr Lado added that some have suspected a link between the bishop\u2019s death and the death of Father Armel Collins Ndjama, the rector of the minor seminary of Bafia, who was found dead in his room earlier in May.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Bishop Balla was born in 1959, and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Yaounde in 1987. He was consecrated Bishop of Bafia in 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>ACN Malta<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CAMEROON &#8211;\u00a0Autopsy raises suspicions about African bishop\u2019s death &nbsp; An autopsy has revealed \u201csigns of torture\u201d on the body of Bishop Jean-Marie Beno\u00eet Balla of Bafia whose body was found in a river last week. Unusual circumstances surrounded the death of the Cameroonian bishop, leading some to think he had committed suicide. Bishop Balla, who&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CAMEROON - Autopsy raises suspicions about bishop&#039;s death - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/06\/13\/cameroon-autopsy-raises-suspicions-bishops-death-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CAMEROON - Autopsy raises suspicions about bishop&#039;s death - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CAMEROON &#8211;\u00a0Autopsy raises suspicions about African bishop\u2019s death &nbsp; An autopsy has revealed \u201csigns of torture\u201d on the body of Bishop Jean-Marie Beno\u00eet Balla of Bafia whose body was found in a river last week. 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An autopsy has revealed \u201csigns of torture\u201d on the body of Bishop Jean-Marie Beno\u00eet Balla of Bafia whose body was found in a river last week. Unusual circumstances surrounded the death of the Cameroonian bishop, leading some to think he had committed suicide. 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