Petition to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on his Visit to Cameroon

On October 26, 2008, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI made public his intention to visit Cameroon in March 2009. For an international figure, and a religious denomination root in the respect for the inherent dignity of every human being, the choice of country and the decision of His Holiness to honor the invitation of the regime in Cameroon is baffling. This petition is a specific call to the Pope to include democracy and human rights during discussions with the President and other high level government officials when he visits Cameroon.
 
As a civil society organization, PICAM does not interfere with religious matters. As such, it is not our call for the Pope to boycott Cameroon. Besides, we recognize that dialogue and engagement of dictators, supported by diplomatic pressure may be fruitful in bringing about positive change. In addition, PICAM recognizes that beyond one-to-one meeting with the President, the Pope will also be meeting with millions of Catholic Christians in Cameroon. In this regard, PICAM would not want to call for actions that deprived these Christians of the wonderful opportunity to meet their Holy Father.
 
Nonetheless, the fact that the Pope’s planned visit to Cameroon is at the invitation of the Head of State has serious political, democratic, and human rights insinuations. For the Pope to unhesitatingly accept an invitation from a President with such reputation leaves much to be desired of the Vatican’s decision making process. President Paul Biya is a dictator who has been in power for over 26 years and recently modified the constitution to enable himself to become President for Life. Surely, the suffering being caused by the regime in place on the people of Cameroon is not in line with the religious principles espoused by the Roman Catholic Church.
 
Our goal is to call on the Pope to possibly declare publicly that when he visits Cameroon in March, his mission will not be limited to congregating with Catholic Christians and meet with public officials, but that he will also use the opportunity to call for the respect of the principles of democracy, human rights, and the plight of Cameroonians which are pertinent to the very existence of human kind.

Besides the Pope, this petition is copied to the following:
President, Pontifical Council for Social Communications
Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations
Diplomatic Representation of the Vatican in the United States
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Embassy of the Republic of Cameroon in the United States
Vatican Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon
National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon
Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon

The link to the Petition Letter to the Vatican is:
http://www.picam.org/campaigns/Petition-to-Pope-Benedict-XVI-on-his-Visit-to-Cameroon.pdf

The petition webpage is:
http://www.picam.org/campaigns/Petition-to-Pope-Benedict-XVI.htm

Your signature is very important to to show support for the course of democracy and human rights in Cameroon. We call on all members of the public to sign this petition as soon as possible. All signatures will be forwarded to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI as a follow-up to the petition letter. Thanks for your support.