Nairobi, 09 July, 2023 / 10:53 am (ACI Africa).
From the full list of some 364 participants in the October 4-29 Synod on Synodality in Rome, who include Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, women and men Religious, and Laity, 67 of them are from Africa.
For the first time, laypeople will not only participate in the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, but they also will be full members, with the ability to vote on a final document at the end of the process that was extended to October 2024, including 43 delegates from Africa.
In the list, Bishop Lucio Andrice Muandula of Xai-Xai Diocese in Mozambique and Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, of Alexandria, head of the Synod of the Coptic Catholic Church, Egypt, are among nine President’s Delegates at the Synod.
Mozambican-born Sheila Leocádia Pires, who serves as Communications Officer for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) is Secretary of the Commission for Information that is headed by Dr. Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery For Communication.
Berhaneyesus Demerew Cardinal Souraphiel of Addis Ababa Archdiocese in Ethiopia, Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam of Asmara Archdiocese in Eritrea, and the Patriarch of Alexandria Egypt are Africa’s delegates from the Eastern Catholic Churches.
