AFRICA/GHANA - Resignation of the Bishop of Wa and appointment of successor

Thursday, 18 February 2016

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On 17 February 2016 the Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Wa (Ghana), presented by His Exc. Mgr. Paul Bemile, in accordance with can. 401 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law. The Holy Father appointed Rev. Fr. Richard Kuuia Baawobr, M. Afr., Superior General of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) as Bishop of the Diocese of Wa (Ghana).
Fr. Richard Kuuia Baawobr, M. Afr., was born on June 21, 1959 in Tom-Zendagangn, Diocese of Wa. He attended the elementary school in the village, he continued his studies at St. Francis Xavier Minor Seminary and Nandom Secondary School. He entered the St. Victor diocesan Major Seminary in Tamale in 1979, after his philosophical studies. In 1981 he went to the Society of Missionaries of Africa, where he continued his studies for priesthood. From 1981 to 1982 he was in Fribourg, Switzerland, for his Novitiate. Subsequently, from 1982 to 1987, he completed his theological studies at the Missionary Institute London (MIL). On 5 December 1986 he professed his religious vows at St. Edward's College, London and was ordained a priest on July 18, 1987.
Since his ordination, he has served the following pastoral and academic roles: 1987-1991: Assistant priest in Livulu, Archdiocese of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo; 1991-1996: Student of exegesis at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and at the Ignatian Spirituality at Le Chatelard in Lyon, in France, where he obtained a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture and a Doctorate in Biblical Theology; 1996-1999: Formator of the Missionaries of Africa in Kahangala, Tanzania; 1999-2004: Director of the formation house of Toulouse in France; 2004-2010: First Assistant General of the Missionaries of Africa. Since 2010: Superior General of the Missionaries of Africa (the first African to hold this position), Vice Chancellor of PISAI (Pontifical Institute of Arabic-Islamic Studies).
He was elected by the Union of Superiors General to attend the Ordinary Assembly of the last Synod of Bishops on the Family, from 4 to 25 October 2015. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 18/02/2016)


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