Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On July 14, 2015 the Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Ho (Ghana), by His Exc. Mgr. Francis Anani Kofi Lodonu, in accordance with canon 401 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law. The Holy Father appointed Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Fianu, S.V.D., Secretary General of the Council of the Divine Word Fathers as Bishop of Ho (Ghana).
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Fianu, S.V.D. was born on June 14, 1957 in Tegbi, near Keta (now the town is located in the diocese of Keta-Akatsi). From 1963 he attended elementary and secondary schools in Tegbi, Ada-Foah and Accra. For three years (1976-1979) he was a student at the Major Seminary in Tamale. He entered the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Divine Word (SVD).
He was ordained a priest on July 14, 1985 in Accra. Since ordination, he has served in the following academic and pastoral roles: 1986-1990: assistant parish in Togo, Chaplain of the young and in charge of the lay apostolate; teacher in the College d'Enseignement General in Kante; 1990-1994: student of Biblical Theology at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome; 1994-1996: Admonitor of the SVD District in Lome, professor of Biblical Studies at St. Jean Paul II Seminaire and at the Institut St. Paul in Lome, Secretary of the Commission for the liturgical publications Ghana-Togo; 1996-1998: Director of the Divine Word College in Rome; 1998-2000: Admonitor of the Divine Word College in Rome; 2000-2004: Rector of the College of the Divine Word in Rome, professor and formator at St. Victor's Major Seminary in Tamale; 2001-2003: Secretary for the formation of the SVD Provinces Africa-Madagascar; 2004-2006: Coordinator for the AFRAM area based in Accra; since 2006: Secretary of the General Council of his Congregation.
The Diocese of Ho, erected in 1994, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Accra, has an area of 5,893 square kilometers and a population of 658,845 inhabitants, of whom 200,670 are Catholics. There are 28 parishes, 82 priests (78 diocesan and 4 religious), 11 religious brothers, 81 nuns and 19 seminarians. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 14/07/2015)
