Interviewed by Martin Jumbam
Mr George Wirnkar, Cameroon’s representative of the pro-life movement, Human Life International, has just come back from Rome where he witnessed the election of Benedict XVI. He speaks to L’Effort camerounais about the feelings he had as he waited for the election of the Supreme Pontiff. Excerpts:
You were present in Rome when the new Pope Benedict XVI was elected. What were your impressions of this historic event?
I was in Rome during the Conclave and that experience completely overwhelmed me. There were thousands of people from all over the world, filling St Peter’s Square until every little path was jammed with people. This brought home to me in a very special way, the universality of the Church, with people coming from everywhere for that historic event.
Did you meet other Cameroonians there?
Actually Rome has a quite a good number of priests and people from Cameroon studying there and although it was examination time, I met many Cameroonian priests and religious as well as lay people who had taken some time off their studies to be present during those very intense days leading up to the election of Benedict XVI.
Were you present when the white smoke came out and the bells rang at the Square at the time?
I was just off St Peter’s Square when the white smoke came up and people were shouting and dancing and there was much jubilation, so I went back to the Square and joined some friends with whom I had the pleasure of watching Benedict XVI come out to the public for the first time as Pope.
The Catholic world had been without a shepherd for a short while. What were you thinking at that moment when you saw the Pope come out to greet the crowd below?
I was experiencing a very intense feeling of joy, first, because the Church now had a new Shepherd, and secondly, at a personal level because it was Cardinal Ratzinger who had been chosen. In fact I remember that during the Mass for the Cardinals before they went into the Conclave, Cardinal Ratzinger’s sermon was very clear and it particularly pleased me that a cardinal with such clarity of expression had been elected to lead the Church at this time of difficulty, added to the fact that he was elected very quickly.
Did you happen to be in Rome when Pope John Paul II was being buried?
No. I arrived in Rome shortly after the burial but I had the gracious opportunity of going to his tomb in the crypt at St Peter’s Basilica where I said a short prayer.
Now that you are back in Cameroon, what is your view of the Church in general after your experience in Rome?
Sincerely my view of the Church has grown and the idea, which has come home very strongly to me, is the idea of the universality of the Church. After this visit I have also come to appreciate even more how people coming from Asia, from Africa and all the other faraway places could all come together to speak one language. I think this is what Christ envisaged when he said “I pray they should all be one.”
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