A01442 - Christian Tumi, a Cameroonian Prelate Who Became Bishop of Yagoua

Christian Wiyghan Tumi (b. October 15, 1930, Kikaikelaki, Cameroons – d. April 3, 2021, Douala, Cameroon) was a Cameroonian prelate of the Catholic Church who was archbishop of Douala from 1991 to 2009. He was bishop of Yagoua from 1980 to 1982. After serving as coadjutor bishop of Garona beginning in 1982, he was bishop there from 1984 to 1991. He was made a cardinal 1988. Tumi was the first cardinal from Cameroon.

Born on October 15, 1930, in Kikaikelaki, a small village near Kumbo, in the Nso clan of the Northwest Region of Cameroon, Tumi studied at local seminaries in Cameroon and Nigeria. He trained as a teacher in Nigeria and London, then earned a licentiate in theology in the Catholic University of Lyon and a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Buea on April 17, 1966, and then served as a Vicar in Soppo for a year before becoming a professor at Bishop Rogan College's seminary. After studying abroad from 1969 to 1973, he returned to his diocese and was named rector of the seminary in Bambui.

On December 6, 1979, Tumi was appointed the first bishop of the Diocese of Yagoua.  He received his episcopal consecration on January 6, 1980, from Pope John Paul II. On November 19, 1982, he was named archbishop coadjutor of Garoua and he succeeded as archbishop there when his predecessor's resignation was accepted on March 17, 1984.

In 1982, Tumi was elected vice president of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon and, in 1985, its president, a post he held until 1991.

Pope John Paul II made Tumi a cardinal on June 28, 1988, assigning him as Cardinal Priest the title of Santi Martiri dell'Uganda a Poggio Ameno on June 28, 1988. On July 6, 1991, Tumi was named a member of the Pontifical Council for Dialogue with Non-Believers.  Tumi was named the Archbishop of Douala on August 31, 1991. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.  

Tumi was critical of the government's attempt to suppress Anglophone culture in Cameroon and advocated a federation to allow the Francophone and Anglophone regions to coexist in Cameroon.

In 2009, Tumi led thousands in a march in Douala to protest Cameroon's endorsement of the Maputo Protocol, a women's rights charter promoted by the African Union. Critics of the document believed it would ease restrictions on abortion and promote homosexuality. In a 2007 sermon Tumi denounced child sexual abuse as a scandal and the shame of contemporary society. 

Tumi was kidnapped on November 5, 2020, and released unharmed on November 6, 2020. His captors released video footage of their interrogation of Tumi.

Tumi died in a hospital in Douala on April 3, 2021, in the early hours following an illness. After a video of his corpse in the hospital bed was released on the Internet. Authorities denounced it as a violation of privacy and ordered an investigation.