Gagnoa, 04 October, 2023 / 9:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Joseph Yapo Aké of the Catholic Archdiocese of Gagnoa in Ivory Coast, the 72-year-old Catholic Church leader who started his Episcopal Ministry as Auxiliary Bishop of Abidjan in September 2001.
In a Wednesday, October 4 bulletin announcing the latest administrative changes in the West African nation, the Holy Father appointed the Local Ordinary of San Pedro Diocese, Bishop Jean-Jacques Koffi Oi Koffi, the Apostolic Administrator of the Ivorian Metropolitan See.
The Holy See Press Office bulletin does not give any reason for the resignation of Archbishop Yapo, who has served as the Local Ordinary of Gagnoa since 2008.
However, a Wednesday, October 4 report by La Croix indicates that the resignation follows protests from a section of the Clergy, who accused the Catholic Archbishop of “financial and human resource mismanagement”.
“A number of Priests have been very angry with their Bishop, leveling accusations of financial and human resource mismanagement against him. Several of them - on mission or in training outside the Archdiocese - refused to return, citing precarious living conditions and authoritarian management,” the report indicates.
