On Wednesday, April 15, 2026, an interruption of the CRTV (Cameroon Radio Television) signal disrupted the live broadcast of Pope Leo XIV's speech at the Unity Palace in Etoudi. The incident, which occurred during the papal visit to Cameroon, triggered a wave of reactions on social media.
As many viewers tuned into the public channel to follow the event in the presence of the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, the signal was abruptly cut off. The image of the sovereign pontiff remained frozen on the screen for about five minutes before being replaced by a song. Other media outlets relaying the CRTV signal were also affected by the interruption.
Blériot Nyemeck, promoter of the NTV television channel, denounced a lack of professionalism in the face of this situation.
Following the incident, the Director-General of CRTV, Charles Ndongo, issued a statement apologizing to the Cameroonian public and the international community. He attributed the outage to connection problems, explaining that "the malfunction was caused by the unavailability of fiber optics and an unstable internet network".
Charles Ndongo reassured that the situation was quickly brought under control, stating that "The cause having been identified, the situation has been restored, and services are now functioning normally". He thus emphasized the continuity of media coverage of Pope Leo XIV's visit to Cameroon.
Pope Leo XIV's visit to Cameroon comes in a context where the sovereign pontiff is undertaking an African tour, including countries such as Angola and Equatorial Guinea. However, he does not plan to visit the United States in 2026.
