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The President of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA), the common forum of the Catholic Bishops from 16 West African countries, has called on political leaders in the African region to use their authority to foster good governance, and for the “common good”.
Catholic Bishops in West Africa are expected to deliberate on Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter on human fraternity and social friendship, Fratelli Tutti and challenges facing the region during their Plenary Assembly scheduled for May in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
The online pilgrimage, which members of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA) launched is expected to feature people’s “contributions to the struggle for justice”, the Catholic Church leaders have said in a statement.
The representative of the Holy Father in Ivory Coast has, on the occasion of the Episcopal Ordination of the Auxiliary Bishop of the country’s Bouaké Archdiocese, called on the new Bishop to practice his Episcopate “with zeal and responsibility.”
Bishop José Câmnate na Bissign whose resignation became official on Saturday, July 11 was the first native Bishop in Guinea-Bissau.
After concerns of massive land grabbing in Africa were raised by the West African Bishops at the helm of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA) during their February meeting, these Church leaders have convened a follow-up meeting with other stakeholders including experts in Ivory Coast’s economic capital, Abidjan to seek solutions to the challenge.
The grabbing of land in Africa by “multinational” corporates keen on maximizing their profits without paying attention to the livelihoods of natives on the continent has been a key highlight during the weeklong gathering of Catholic Church leaders at the helm of the Regional Episcopal Conferences of West Africa (RECOWA) that concluded Monday, February 17.
At the burial ceremony of 18-year-old Michael Nnadi, the Nigerian seminarian abducted from the Good Shepherd Major Seminary and murdered last month, the Local Ordinary of his native diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto has decried insecurity situation in the West African country, faulted the country’s President, and expressed the hope that Michael’s death becomes a turning point for Christian persecution in Africa’s most populous nation.