OPEN LETTER TO HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV

Your Holiness,

Allow us to introduce ourselves: we are Project C, a movement of Cameroonians committed to fostering a peaceful and democratic transition in Cameroon. On October 12, 2025, millions of Cameroonians went to the polls and chose change. They voted for Issa Tchiroma Bakary by a landslide. The Catholic Church documented this. Independent observers confirmed it. The people celebrated it. Then the Paul Biya regime stole it—announcing fraudulent results that reversed the outcome. When citizens took to the streets demanding respect for their votes, they were met with bullets, tear gas, and mass arrests. As we write, the Biya regime has embarked on a brutal campaign of repression: killing peaceful protesters, detaining opposition leaders, intermittently limiting internet access, and deploying military forces to silence millions of Cameroonians whose only crime is demanding that their documented votes be honored. The regime that stole their ballots is now stealing their lives, their freedom, and their future. This is the context in which you are being invited to Cameroon—not to serve Christ's truth, but to validate a lie written in the blood of those who dared to believe their votes would matter.

THE DOCUMENTED TRUTH

On October 12, 2025, Catholic observers deployed across Cameroon documented the presidential election. Father Ludovic Lado, SJ, has published what they witnessed:

True Results (Catholic observers):

•⁠ ⁠Issa Tchiroma Bakary: 62.22%

•⁠ ⁠Paul Biya: 26.70%

Falsified Results (ELECAM/Constitutional Council):

•⁠ ⁠Paul Biya: 53.66%

•⁠ ⁠Issa Tchiroma Bakary: 35.19%

The Church counted. The Church knows. Yet the bishops have chosen silence.

The ancient maxim holds: Vox populi, vox Dei - The voice of the people is the voice of God. On October 12, God spoke through 28 million Cameroonians. The regime chose not to listen. Will the Church make the same choice?

THE TRAP BEING SET

Your invitation to Cameroon is a calculated manipulation: use your moral authority to legitimize a stolen election, sanctify fraud, and reset a crisis that exists only because a 93-year-old dictator refuses to accept the will of 28 million people.

If you come without demanding truth first: Your presence will consecrate injustice. Your blessing will sanctify theft. Your visit will complete the Church's moral collapse in Cameroon.

THE PATTERN OF BETRAYAL

This is not the Church's first test in Cameroon:

1970: Monsignor Albert Ndongmo spoke truth to tyranny. He was arrested and sentenced to death. His brother bishops stayed silent.

2017: Archbishop Jean-Marie Benoît Balla challenged corruption. He was assassinated. The Church never demanded full accountability.

2025: Father Lado publishes documented election fraud. The bishops choose silence again.

The pattern is clear: Courageous clergy who speak truth face destruction. Silent bishops who accommodate power survive. The institutional Church chooses comfort over courage, every single time.

Your Apostolic Nuncio became the first dignitary to visit Paul Biya after the stolen election—validating the regime before defending truth. This was not diplomacy. It was capitulation.

THE FAITHFUL HAVE ALREADY SPOKEN

The disconnect between Rome's diplomatic position and the people's reality was captured in a viral video from Bamenda. When your Apostolic Nuncio referred to Paul Biya as "President of Cameroon" during a church service, the congregation responded with jeers and derisive laughter. This was not disrespect for the Church—it was faithful Catholics rejecting a lie being proclaimed from their own pulpit. Even in a sacred space, the people could not stomach hearing the title "President" bestowed on a man who stole their votes. The video spread across social media because it crystallized a truth your Nuncio seems unable to grasp: the faithful know what happened on October 12. They will not pretend otherwise, even when their Church's representatives demand it.

When the people jeer at lies proclaimed from the pulpit, perhaps it is time the pulpit listened to the people. Vox populi, vox Dei.

WHAT SCRIPTURE DEMANDS

"Woe to you... You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead." (Matthew 23:27)

The Church in Cameroon: beautiful cathedrals, impressive liturgies—but inside, the corpse of truth, buried by silence.

"What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)

Where is justice when the Church counts honestly but accepts fraud silently? Where is mercy when bishops abandon their people to lies?

"If anyone knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them." (James 4:17)

The Church knows. Father Lado knows. The observers know. Yet they do not act. This is not neutrality—this is sin by omission.

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?" (Matthew 5:13)

When the Church cannot distinguish between truth and lies, between justice and theft—what good is it?

POPE FRANCIS' WORDS CONVICT US

"I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security." (Evangelii Gaudium)

The Church in Cameroon has chosen security over streets, comfort over courage, the approval of power over the acclaim of heaven.

THE BINARY CHOICE

Prophetic Witness: The Church could state what its observers documented: "Issa Tchiroma won. The declared results are false." This would cost institutional comfort but preserve moral authority.

Institutional Complicity: The Church could maintain silence, attend state functions, accept the fraud. This preserves relationships but destroys credibility.

The Church cannot choose both. It cannot serve truth while accepting lies.

WHAT YOUR VISIT WOULD TEACH

If you come without demanding truth first:

To voters: Your documented choice can be erased. The Church won't defend you.

To brave priests: Your courage was wasted. Truth is expendable.

To young Cameroonians: The Church's teachings about truth and justice are theoretical.

To dictators everywhere: Religious institutions can be managed. Just invite the Pope.

YOUR PIUS XII MOMENT

You and your predecessors have acknowledged the Church's past failures: silence during the Holocaust, complicity with slavery, collaboration with genocide against indigenous peoples.

Your Holiness, you face such a moment now.

The faithful and history in years to come will ask when the Catholic Church documented electoral fraud but bishops chose silence—what did Pope Leo XIV do?

Did he demand truth? Or accept lies? Did he stand with the 62%? Or validate those who stole their votes?

This is your choice between prophecy and complicity and our prayer is that your decision will reinforce our faith in Christ's mission.

CONDITIONS BEFORE ANY VISIT

We implore you to consider and prioritize the following actions:

Demand all evidence - "If your results are legitimate, prove it. Release Father Lado's documentation."

Meet Father Lado first - Before any government official, see what Church observers documented.

Convene the bishops - Force them to choose: their observers' documentation or government fabrications?

Question your Nuncio - Why did he validate Biya before defending truth? Why does he continue proclaiming a fraudulent president from Catholic pulpits while the faithful jeer in protest?

Set clear terms - "I will visit when truth is acknowledged, not before."

THE PROPHETIC PATH

We believe the Church has a duty to truth that transcends diplomatic convenience. We call on you to issue a statement requesting the Cameroon's government to provide evidence for declared results and allow independent verification.

"The Catholic Church stands with truth, even when truth is costly. Especially when truth is costly." (Pope John Paul II)

This would cost you diplomatically. But 28 million Cameroonians would witness a Pope who meant what he said about justice.

WHAT HANGS IN THE BALANCE

This is not about politics. It's about souls:

Young Cameroonians watching to see if Church teachings are real or rhetorical.

Brave priests who need their Pope's defense.

Complicit bishops who need calling back to their vocations.

Ordinary Catholics learning whether their Church serves truth or manages it.

And Paul Biya himself - at 93, he needs someone who loves him enough to tell him the truth: clinging to power through fraud is destroying his soul.

OUR PLEA

We are not asking you to choose candidates or take partisan sides.

We are asking you to be Pope.

To demand truth when lies are convenient. To defend justice when injustice is profitable. To stand with the oppressed when power would be easier. To speak clearly when ambiguity protects institutions.

This is what John Paul II did in Poland. This is what you have done elsewhere. This is Christ's call to Peter.

THE CHOICE

Your Holiness, you have built your papacy on clear principles: serve the poor, defend truth, challenge the powerful, proclaim Christ over Caesar.

Every principle is being tested in Cameroon right now.

Do these principles apply only when convenient? Or do they define the Church even when costly?

This is not between candidates. It is between truth and lies. Between prophecy and complicity. Between the Gospel you preach and the institutional comfort that tempts all religious leaders to compromise.

The Catholics of Cameroon and the World at large are watching. The young people of Africa are watching. Christ is watching.

Vox populi, vox Dei. The people have spoken. Will you listen?

Do not go to Cameroon to bless lies. Go to demand truth. Or do not go at all.

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Respectfully and urgently submitted,

Project C

November 17, 2025

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"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)