Archbishop Barrigah-Benissan of Lomé in Togo Known for Passion for Music, Arts Dies Aged 61

“For me, art is essentially a means of evangelization; it consists of expressing something beautiful, good, great. And I willingly place it at the service of God, of the great values that guide my life,” the late Togolese Archbishop said during the 24 October 2020 event.

“Art is not a decoration, an ornament that you add to what you do,” Archbishop Barrigah-Benissan went on to say, and described art as being “essentially a way of doing things, of communicating what we experience. Thus, through singing, as in my writings, I pursue only one goal: to help others discover something beautiful and good.”

The late Togolese Archbishop has 100 songs to his name, collected into six albums. He was also a vocalist and played the guitar. 

Born in May 1963 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the late Archbishop Barrigah-Bénissan was ordained a Priest in August 1987.

He was appointed Bishop of Togo’s Atakpamé Diocese in January 2008. He was transferred to the Archdiocese of Lomé in November 2019.

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In his Episcopal Ministry, Archbishop Barrigah-Benissan advocated for justice; he served as President of the National Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace of CET.

In a 2019 interview with ACI Africa on the sidelines of the Pan-African Congress on Divine Mercy in Burkina Faso, the late Archbishop faulted the justice system institutionalized by many nations in Africa describing it as “suffering justice.” 

He proposed a legal system that is oriented toward social cohesion, “transformed by mercy.”

“I would like to propose to Africa a justice of surpassing oneself, which can be transformed by mercy, but through stages which, in view of the situation on the continent, seem particularly important,” he told ACI Africa on 20 November 2019. 

Archbishop Barrigah-Benissan said justice can only truly permeate the lives of the people of God on the continent “if it is transformed by mercy, animated by the love of God that leads to surpassing oneself.”