Gabriel Simo (March 15, 1937 in Bapa, Hauts-Plateaux – November 24, 2017 in Bafoussam) was the Cameroonian

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

prelate, who served as an auxiliary bishop of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Douala The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Douala is the Metropolitan See for the Ecclesiastical province of Douala in Cameroon. The current archbishop is Archbishop Samuel Kleda; he had previously been the coadjutor archbishop to the Archbishop Emeritus ...

(1987–1994) and

Roman Catholic Diocese of Bafoussam The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bafoussam ( la, Bafussamen(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Bafoussam in the ecclesiastical province of Douala in Cameroon. History * February 5, 1970: Established as Diocese of Bafoussam from the Diocese o ...

(1994–2013).

Life

Gabriel Simo was ordained as a priest on March 27, 1966. Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed him an auxiliary bishop of Douala and Titular Bishop of Sereddeli on January 26, 1987. He was consecrated as bishop by

Apostolic Pro-Nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

and

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

, Archbishop

Donato Squicciarini Donato Squicciarini (24 April 1927 – 5 March 2006) was an Italian Catholic archbishop who acted as Nuncio to Austria from 1989 to 2002. Squicciarini was born at Altamura, Apulia on 24 April 1927. He was ordained priest 12 April 1952, and ordaine ...

and other prelates of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

on April 26 of the same year. Because of Simo's origin from the ethnic group of

Bamileke The Bamileke are a Central African people who inhabit the Western High Plateau of Cameroon. Languages The Bamileke languages belong to the Grassfields branch of the Niger-Congo language family, which is sometimes labeled as a " Bantuoid lang ...

it came in the

to protests of a majority of local priests against his appointment, who criticized a "Bamilekisation" the church hierarchy in

. On November 11, 1994, he was appointed an auxiliary bishop in Bafoussam.

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

accepted his age-related retirement on 14 September 2013.

Notes

1937 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Cameroon 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Cameroon Roman Catholic bishops of Bafoussam Roman Catholic bishops of Douala {{cameroon-bio-stub