Cornelius Fontem Esua

Cornelius Fontem Esua is a Cameroonian Prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He serves as Archbishop of the Bamenda Metropolitan See since 2006.

Born in Mbetta, Esua was ordained to the priesthood on December 29, 1971.

On September 10, 1982, he was appointed bishop of Kumbo. Esua received his episcopal consecration on the following December 8 from archbishop Donato Squicciarini, the then apostolic nuncio to Cameroon, with the then recently appointed archbishop of Bamenda, Paul Mbiybe Verdzekov, and the bishop of Buéa, Pius Suh Awa, serving as co-consecrators.

He was named coadjutor archbishop of Bamenda by Pope John Paul II on December 7, 2004; he succeeded Paul Mbiybe Verdzekov as archbishop of Bamenda on January 23, 2006.

• Nkuv Affair

Archbishop Esua expressed his full intentions as Chief Pastor to advocate doctrinal views on issues like the Nkuv Affair. Quite a good number of the prominent members of the World Apostolate of Fatima (The Blue Army) became ring leaders of the unorthodox Nkuv devotion, since the latter was in some wishful and unclear manner associated with the Fatima apparitions. It was on account of this association that the 13th of every month, and most especially the 13th of May, was taken as the official day of prayer for the Nkuvites. Since the 7th of October 1997, when Archbishop Esua, then Bishop of Kumbo Diocese issued a Pastoral Letter declaring the falsehood and unorthodoxy of the Nkuv Affair and outlining the criteria for determining the authenticity of Marian apparitions, some of its adherents have withdrawn and regained full communion with the Local Church, some adhere both to Nkuv and to the Church, and some have publicly excluded themselves from the Church and pledged allegiance to Nkuv, forming what we can now refer to as a sect. However, the group is gradually dying out.

• On the Sacrament of Marriage and HIV/AIDS

Archbishop Esua and the other Bishops of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province (BAPEC), issued a letter to all Christian Faithful concerning the Sacrament of Marriage and HIV/AIDS. All the Bishops requested that before the Publication of Marriage banns, couples must present to the Parish Priest a valid and authentic medical certificate showing that they have done the HIV/AIDS screening. While the Church continues to educate people on how HIV/AIDS can be prevented from spreading into the society, the Bishops reiterated the Church stand on the Matter. The Church does not allow or advocate the use of condoms as a way of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. The Church's solution is Chastity for those who are not Married, Fidelity to one's partner for married couples who are not infected and Abstinence from sexual intercourse for married couples if at least one partner is infected.