Morning Mass began with a hymn on a recent Sunday at the Infant Jesus Catholic Church in the Central African Republic town of Bouar. The Rev. Dominic Mbarta fretted about his sermon. The previous Sunday, whena Polish priest at the churchsimply asked the congregation to refrain from killing their Muslim neighbors or looting abandoned Muslim houses, the priest was threatened.
"They were so angry," Mbarta says. "They went back grumbling that the priest is not impartial. He is for the Muslims.