Amazon Synod: Who are the Africans and Africa-based Participants?

Ghanaian-born Peter Cardinal Turkson is the Prefect of the Vatican based Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He was ordained priest in July 1975. Pope St. John Paul II appointed him the Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast in 1992 at the age of 44. The same Pope announced his appointment as Cardinal in the Consistory of October 2003.

Cardinal Turkson served as the General Relator at the 2009 2^nd Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops. Having been a Member of the Pre-Synodal Council Special Assembly of the Amazon, his role at the forthcoming Synod seems defined.

Robert Cardinal Sarah

The Guinean-born Robert Cardinal Sarah is the Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments. He was ordained priest in July 1969 in Conakry, the country’s capital.  In 1979, Pope St. John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Conakry at the age of 34, making him the youngest Local Ordinary in the world.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed him President of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum" in October 2010 and a month later (November 2010) announced him Cardinal.

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Archbishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungu

Born of a rubber tapper in DR Congo 59 years ago, Cardinal-elect Fridolin Ambongo Besungu took his final vows in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (O.F.M Cap.) in 1987 and ordained priest the following year (1988). He was appointed bishop of Bokungu-Ikela Diocese where he served for twelve years until his appointment as Archbishop of Kinshasa last year (2018).

According to reports, he was a key architect of the December 31, 2016 Catholic Church-brokered accord on elections to replace President Kabila. When the accord was violated, he endorsed Catholics-led protests and condemned police violence. He is to become Cardinal on the eve of the Amazon Synod alongside 12 other Cardinals-elect.

 Archbishop Marcel Madila, Kananga, DR Congo

Born in 1955, Congolese Archbishop Madila was ordained a priest in Kananga, DR Congo in August 1981. Pope St. John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Kananga in 2004. Upon the resignation of the diocesan bishop in May 2006, the College of Consultors elected him diocesan administrator. He was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Kananga by Pope Benedict XVI in December 2006. He is currently the President of the Association of Bishops’ Conferences of Central Africa (ACEAC).

Fr. Rigobert Minani, Sj, DR Congo

The 53-year-old Congolese priest joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1987. He is a researcher in the field of human rights and has been working with several human rights’ organizations. He played an important role in the 2002 Inter-Congolese Conference, in the monitoring of the 2006 presidential elections, and in the search for sustainable solutions to the continuing violence in eastern Congo.

Since the central focus of discussion at the synod will be the needs of those whose lives are threatened by unprecedented levels of ecological destruction, Fr. Minani’s participation in the synod is important because of his involvement in the fight to protect creation. He is the focal point of the Ecclesial Network on the Congo Basin Forest (REBAC) for the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).

Fr. Martín Lasarte Topolanski, SDB, Angola

Uruguayan born Fr. Martín Lasarte Topolanski is a Salesian priest working as a missionary in Angola. He is a collaborator of Central Salesian Dicastery of Missions in Rome. In collaboration with youths in Angola, he has come to the aid of the underprivileged in society for the past 20 years.

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It is worth noting that The Salesians are present in 6 of the 9 countries of the Amazon region. They have 47 communities with 245 Salesians, serving the rural and urban areas of Amazonia and Mato Grosso. It is no wonder then that out of the 185 delegates to the Amazon synod, there is a considerable Salesian presence, both of the Salesians of Don Bosco and of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. "It is a Synod in which our Salesian Amazonia asks us to give a renewed response to the Amazon youth," said Fr Topolanski in an interview with Agenzia Info Salesiana.