VATICAN - Cardinal Filoni in Equatorial Guinea to ordain three Bishops

Wednesday, 17 May 2017 filoni   local churches  

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will depart for a pastoral visit to Equatorial Guinea tomorrow, May 18, where on 20 May he will preside the solemn Eucharistic Concelebration for the ordination of three Bishops in Mongomo. The Bishops of Gabon, Cameroon and Congo will be present for the event.
Two of the new Bishops are the first ordinaries of the newly erected dioceses. In fact, on 1 April, the Holy Father erected the two new dioceses of Evinayong and Mongomo in Equatorial Guinea, making them a suffragan of the metropolitan seat of Malabo. The Pope appointed Rev. Calixto Paulino Esono Abaga Obono, of the Clergy of Bata, as first Bishop of Evinayong and Fr. Juan Domingo-Beka Esono
Ayang, CMF, Bursar of the Claretian Seminary of Bata, as first Bishop of the diocese of Mongoma. On the same date the Holy Father appointed Fr. Miguel Angel Nguema Bee, SDB, Provincial Superior of the Salesians (see Fides 1/4/2017), as Bishop of the diocese of Ebebiyin.
During his pastoral visit from 18 to 25 May, Cardinal Filoni will also preside the taking possession of the respective dioceses on behalf of the new Bishops, will meet with the Episcopal Conference of Equatorial Guinea, as well as the clergy, religious men and women of the various dioceses. On May 23, the Prefect will visit Oyala, the new "administrative capital" of Equatorial Guinea.
The Republic of Equatorial Guinea, formerly a Spanish colony, is one of the smallest and less inhabited states of continental Africa. According to the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, it has 759,000 inhabitants, of whom 736,000 are Catholics and an area of 28,051 sq. Km. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 17/5/2017)


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