Ouesso, 08 December, 2021 / 9:15 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis has accepted the retirement of Bishop Yves-Marie Monot of the Catholic Diocese of Ouesso in the Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville) and appointed his successor.
In the latest administrative changes published Wednesday, December 8 by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father appointed Fr. Gélase Armel Kema who has been serving as the National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) in the Central African nation as the successor of Bishop Monot.
The Bishop-elect was appointed PMS National Director in Congo Brazzaville in March 2018. The appointment that was made by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Propaganda Fide), was to end in 2023, Agenzia Fides reported in May 2018.
He is expected to succeed Bishop Monot, the 77-year-old member of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans - CSSp) who has been at the helm of the Congolese Diocese since April 2006, first as Apostolic Administrator, and later as Bishop following his Episcopal Ordination in September 2008.
A native of the same Episcopal See he is expected to oversee, the Bishop-elect who turned 49 in October was ordained a Priest in August 1999 after completing his philosophy and theology studies at the Theological Institute of Montreal in Quebec, Canada.
