Ghanaian Cardinal chosen Head of the Catholic Church in Africa
The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) (www.SECAM.org), the relationship of Catholic Bishops of Africa, Madagascar, and the Islands, has chosen His Eminence Richard Kuuia Baawobr of Ghana as its new President.
His Eminence Richard Kuuia Baawobr is currently the most noteworthy positioning individual from the Roman Catholic Church in Africa.
The political race occurred in Accra, Ghana, during the nineteenth Plenary Assembly of SECAM, by which 130 members, including cardinals and clerics addressing north of 600 catholic priests of Africa came from all edges of the mainland.
The new President succeeds His Eminence Philippe Cardinal Ouédraogo from Burkina Faso.
Another Cardinal, His Eminence Fridolin Besungu Ambongo of the Archdiocese of Kinshasha, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was chosen First Vice-President, while Most Rev. Lucio Andrice Muandula of the Diocese of Xai, in Mozambique, was chosen Second Vice President.
The new President of SECAM, His Eminence Richard Kuuia Baawobr, was made a Cardinal on May 29, 2022 by Pope Francis and will be formally introduced Cardinal on August 27, 2022.
This is the initial time since the foundation of SECAM, quite a while back that a Ghanaian has been chosen the President of SECAM.
The SECAM, laid out in 1969 in Kampala, Uganda during the visit of St. Pope Paul VI, was conceived out of the craving of African Catholic Bishops present at the Second Vatican Council to talk with one voice on issues relating to the Church in Africa.
The Symposium, settled in Accra, comprises of eight territorial affiliations:
-Relationship of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa (ACEAC).
- Relationship of Episcopal Conferences of Central African Region (ACERAC).
- Gathering of the Catholic Hierarchy of Egypt (AHCE).
- Relationship of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA).
- Episcopal Conferences of the Indian Ocean (CEDOI).
- Provincial Episcopal Conference of North Africa (CERNA).
- Between Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA).
- Gathering of Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA/CERAO).