By Matthew Don
President of the Diocesan Priests Association of Ahiara, Reverend Father Austine Ekechukwu has said that his members have tendered unreserved apology to Pope Francis through a letter restating their obedience to the head of the Catholic Church.
Rev. Ekechukwu said those who thought they were going to be excommunicated have been disappointed, noting that they have the highest respect for the Pontiff.
In apparent response to a comment by President of Catholic Bishop Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama who is also Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Jos that the Ahiara priests risked excommunication if they disobeyed the Pope on his mandate to them on or before July 9 to apologise to him, Rev. Ekechukwu said it was not in their character to disobey the Pope.
“This is a private letter Pope asked us to write. The Pope’s directives have been complied with. Whatever the Pope asked us to do in line with the constitution of the Catholic church, we have done. It is not for anybody to interpret the Pope’s action.
“We are not disobeying the Pope and we cannot disobey the Pope. What we are saying is that we should not be suppressed. they are subverting the truth. They are shielding the Pope from the truth. Let the right thing be done. If someone says Catholic priests in Ahiara Diocese are not up to 700, in America alone we have over 70 priests ordained there, we have many of us ordained in other parts the world. Here in the Diocese, over 40 deacons have been denied ordination since the saga started,” Ekechukwu said.
Pope Francis had ordered the priest in Ahiara to apologise over their recalcitrant way of dealing with the posting of Bishop Peter Okpaleke to Ahiara Diocese as their bishop, giving them Sunday, July 9 deadline to do so or face sanction.