Stephanie E. MBIDA, Renee MBIDA and William MBIDA send a letter to the Sovereign Pontiff in the wake of his apostolic visit scheduled for April 15 to 18, 2026 to Cameroon. Here is the letter in full.

”VOX POPULI, VOX DEI

A NOVEL APPROACH TO BRING BACK PEACE, EMPATHY, AND THE SPIRIT OF SHARING THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.   

His Holiness Pope Leo XIV

Apostolic Palace

00120 VATICAN CITY                                                                                                                                                                            April 5, 2026 .

Your Holiness,

We warmly congratulate you on your election in May 2025 as head of the Catholic Church, an election that fills us with joy and hope at this defining moment for the whole world. And we will remain eternally grateful for your imminent visit to Cameroon.

We are taking the liberty of writing to you today because you are a staunch defender of the most vulnerable and marginalized. As such, you are the ideal person to address not only the plight of the millions of people whose cause we are here to plead, including the victims of the many armed conflicts currently ravaging the world, but also, and above all, the profound paradigm shift that threatens the hard-won fundamental values that underpin the existence of the human race.

In recent years, our world has seen an accelerated erosion of many of the fundamental achievements in human coexistence. Indeed, in relations between various countries and peoples, real diplomacy is increasingly giving way to the law of the strongest.

Across the world, democracies are increasingly sliding towards authoritarianism, while individuals at the head of already colossal fortunes are frantically accumulating millions, even billions, of additional dollars while laying off tens of thousands of their employees. Programmes that feed, care for and keep millions of poor children alive around the world are being abruptly shut down, with no consideration for the dire consequences. Mistreating those who are economically weaker or less well-equipped with weapons is becoming a demonstration of power, celebrated as an honorable act. Thousands of civilians are killed every week in wars and brutalized in countries at peace, but this no longer awakens any sense of horror and outrage in us. The most basic human rights are being openly violated on a large scale and without restraint. The use of social media as a vehicle for disinformation, hatred and division is being normalized under the pretext of freedom of expression. Facts and realities – be they visible to all or science-based – are now subject to interpretation. And all of this is happening even as the digital revolution has created a world that is exponentially richer than it was just a few decades ago.

Indeed, the immense wealth generated by the digital revolution, rather than encouraging us all to share more and show more compassion, has given rise to the exact opposite feelings in a minority of our brothers and sisters around the world. A similar phenomenon emerged during the Industrial Revolution as well, when the overall amount of wealth in the world increased prodigiously within a few decades. Only, in the present case, this minority now forms a critical mass that jeopardizes the balance and stability of the whole world.

There is every reason however to believe that the majority of humanity deeply aspires to a return to the positive values that have dominated human interactions for decades. But this majority does not seem to have found yet a channel effective enough to express this ardent desire, a channel through which they can make themselves be heard with strength and clarity.

Indeed, you yourself are a passionate advocate of these values. Therefore, your deep compassion and role as the head of the Catholic Church place you in a unique and ideal position to initiate an innovative and unconventional approach capable of reversing this extremely dangerous trend that is currently holding the world hostage and threatening to plunge the planet into endless wars and widespread physical and moral misery if nothing is done in the coming months that matches the level of the challenge facing the world.

With each passing day, the Church and you at its head are thus becoming one of the last bastions of defense against the world sinking into chaos.

The innovative approach we dare suggest here consists in appealing to the voice of the people of the entire world, according to the principle of VOX POPULI, VOX DEI.

You could achieve this goal by organizing a collective prayer on a global scale.

Indeed, we dare propose that, in a not-too-distant future, you invite world leaders of other religions to the Vatican and, under your coordination, jointly lead a prayer that will bring together tens, even hundreds of millions of people – of all religions – who will pray simultaneously, with one voice, throughout the world with you.

During this worldwide gathering, we will pray in unison for the end of ongoing conflicts, in commemoration of the victims of these conflicts, and for the restoration of the values of compassion, solidarity, tolerance and sharing, the erosion of which gives rise to multiple forms of abuse and injustice that deeply affect – and in many cases even irrevocably destroy – the lives of tens of millions of people around the world.

We will pray that true diplomacy and love for our neighbors, especially our brothers and sisters of different races, ethnicities, cultures or religion, may once again find their place in interactions between individuals, nations and peoples.

We will pray that peaceful coexistence will once again be at the heart of our leaders’ concerns and that the enormous amounts of energy and financial resources now committed to the frantic race for the most lethal weapons will instead be invested in solving the considerable social problems facing the peoples of their respective countries,  combating global warming, and feeding, caring for and educating the world’s most disadvantaged children.

We will ask for divine grace for all volunteers who work in conflict zones, putting their own lives on the line to save those of others.

We will also take this opportunity to finally pray together for the 7 million victims of Covid, so that their souls may rest in peace, and for their families. And we will thank the heroes of the pandemic, the 180,000 health workers who succumbed to the Covid virus, contracted while working to save the lives of their compatriots. We will invoke divine favor upon them and their families.

Modern technology now makes it easy to organize this type of event. Indeed, in 2025, millions of people watched your inaugural Mass live from all over the world. Those who wish to join in this global prayer will therefore be able to do so through the various media outlets that will be broadcasting it live.

This prayer that we are suggesting is in line with the appeal that you yourself made last August, inviting all Christians to pray individually or in groups for peaceful coexistence.

Your Holiness, we firmly believe that a gathering of tens, and perhaps even hundreds of millions of people praying simultaneously, under your leadership and with the participation of other spiritual leaders, would constitute an extremely powerful channel of communication. It would send a clear message to world leaders—political, economic, media and intellectual—that the citizens of the world aspire to a society where peace, harmony and brotherhood reign, and to the restoration of the spirit of empathy and sharing, as well as respect for human rights and international law.

Such an event would greatly increase awareness of the issues discussed above and reassure victims that they are not alone in their trials. It could even lead to a major breakthrough in the resolution of multiple armed conflicts that have been dragging on for months or years, with leaders firmly entrenched in their positions and many of them tending to exacerbate violence rather than defuse it. In short, it would generate spiritual and healing energy of unparalleled power, and leave a lasting imprint on the collective consciousness.

We respectfully suggest that the Vatican announce this special Mass some time in advance in order to give all those who wish to join in this event (Christians, non-Christians and various media outlets that will broadcast the prayer) the opportunity to organize themselves accordingly.

We sincerely thank you for taking the time to read our letter.

With all our respect, your humble servants, 

Stephanie E. MBIDA (MBA, Washington University in St Louis)                                                                             Renée MBIDA (University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business)

William MBIDA (High School student)”