Cameroon Bishop Jean-Marie Benoit Balla of Bafia was reported missing on May 31 and found dead on June 1. His body was pulled out of the river about 10 miles from his abandoned vehicle. A note reading, “I am in the water,” was recovered from his vehicle and led many to believe the bishop committed suicide.
Further examination of his body by medical investigators now reveals Bishop Balla‘s body shows “signs of torture.”
“The body removed from the river Sanaga had a stiffened arm, folded on its abdomen indicating that Bishop Balla was not fighting against the fury of the waters. Bishop Balla was tortured and brutally murdered,” stated the findings of the autopsy published in a confidential document, according to BaretaNews.
The reports went on to explain his lungs had not a single drop of water in them and the state of Balla’s body was determined as spending less than four hours in the water before it was found.
“This is a catastrophe for Cameroon, and particularly for our Catholic Church,” a statement on the bishops’ conference website said, according to the Catholic Herald. “We place our confidence in those helping the country and church by inquiring into the explicit causes of the death of this man of God, about whose level-headedness, thoughtfulness, wisdom, patience, and gentleness no one had a bad word to say.”
The 58-year-old bishop was appointed to Bafia by St. John Paul II in 2003. The Catholic communities have been attacked more frequently by terrorist organization Boko Haram, which allied itself with the Islamic State in March 2015. The group is notorious for kidnapping and murdering priests and nuns.
“I invite all friends of the church, whether Christians or not, to show a grand serenity of peace, hope, and charity, and avoid useless judgments and debates with can only profit the devil and his allies,” local priest Father Remy Ngomo said. “God will reveal his intentions and wishes, and give us his grace and blessing, so the public authorities can discover the truths still hidden behind this terrible event.”
According to BaretaNews, a judicial inquiry into the “suspicious death has been opened by the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal in the Center region.”
(source: Catholic Online)