Catholic Affairs (2025)

27/12/2024

Catholic Priest Sh0t Dead

Rev. Fr Tobias Chukwujekwu Okonkwo, a catholic Priest of Nnewi Diocese, Anambra Statewas shot dead on 26th December. He was shot by unidentified gunmen along Owerri-Onitsha Express way around 7-8pm.

Until his death, Fr Okonkwo was a pharmacist and priest in charge of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Ihiala, Anambra State, Nigeria 🇳🇬

May the soul of Fr Tobias Chukwujekwu Okonkwo and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen 🙏🏼

15/12/2024

Happy Gaudete Sunday!

13/12/2024

Indian Priest Elevated To Cardinal

51-year-old Fr. George Jacob Koovakad from Kerala has been elevated to Cardinal by Pope Francis, making history as the first Indian priest directly appointed to this rank. Previous Indian cardinals were bishops or archbishops before.

On October 25, Pope Francis appointed Mar George Koovakad as the titular Archbishop of Chaldean Eparchy of Nisibis. He received his episcopal consecration on November 24 in Kerala, his home state, from Major Archbishop Maran Mar Raphael Thattil, the head of the Syro-Malabar Church.

The 51-year-old Mar George Koovakad is a member of the Vatican's diplomatic corps and plays a key role in organizing papal trips. Having joined the Vatican diplomatic service in 2006, he has served in nunciatures across Algeria, South Korea, Iran, Costa Rica, and Venezuela.

It is significant that Mar Koovakad has been appointed as the Titular Archbishop of Nisibis of the Chaldeans. A titular see refers to a Eparchy that no longer functions actively due to wars, persecutions, or conquests. Yet, the Church continues to honor these ancient sees by ordaining bishops for them, preserving their spiritual and historical legacy.

Nisibis holds immense importance in the history of the East Syriac tradition. It is the birthplace of eminent theologians like Mar Jacob of Nisibis and his renowned disciple, St. Ephrem the Syrian, a Doctor of the Church. Other prominent figures associated with the theological School of Nisibis include Mar Narsai, Mar Barsauma, Mar Abraham of Beth Rabban, Mar Henana of Adiabene, Mar Gabriel Qatraya, Mar Babai the Great, Mar Dadisho, and Patriarch Mar Ishoyahb II, among others.

May the good Lord bless you with the wisdom, grace, and strength to carry out his mission, inspired by the rich spiritual heritage of Nisibis!
Congratulations His Eminence

08/12/2024

Pope Francis created 21 new cardinals from 16 countries at a consistory in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican. Now, the current number of cardinals eligible to pick the next pope in the Catholic Church stands at 140, nearly 79% of whom were created by Pope Francis.

06/12/2024

The CEO of Mercedes-Benz personally presents Pope Francis with his new personalised fully electric Popemobile
What a AWESOME Christmas present

06/12/2024

Victims of Christ the King Cathedral (CKC) Corpus Christi Stampede, Mrs Emmanuella Chizoba Peter Ukaegbu and her daughter Miss Onyinyechi Ukaegbu set for burial.

We are praying that God will grant them eternal rest and their family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
Amen.

06/12/2024

Pope Francis Approves Beatification of Congo’s Anti-Corruption Martyr

By Charles Igwe

Pope Francis has authorized the beatification of Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kositi, a young customs officer from the Democratic Republic of Congo who was martyred in 2007 for his unwavering stand against corruption.

At just 26 years old, Floribert was employed by the Congolese Control Office (OCC) in Goma, tasked with ensuring the quality and safety of goods. During his tenure, he intercepted a shipment of spoiled rice from Rwanda that posed serious health risks to the public. Despite being offered bribes to allow the contaminated rice into the market, Floribert refused, remaining steadfast in his principles.

When the bribes escalated to threats, Floribert still did not yield. On July 7, 2007, he was abducted by unidentified assailants. His lifeless body was found two days later, showing signs of torture. Pope Francis has recognized his death as an act of martyrdom, killed “in hatred of the faith.”

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints announced the decree on November 25, 2024, paving the way for Floribert’s beatification during the Jubilee Year 2025. His example, hailed by many, underscores the call to live out Biblical truth in everyday life.

Father Humphrey Tatah Mbuy, a Cameroonian priest and researcher, praised Floribert’s courage, saying, “He challenges us as Africans and as people of conscience to realize that morality does not require a majority. Wrong is wrong, and right is right. His life is a profound example for Christians and all human beings.”

Floribert’s mother, Kamara Ntawiha Gertrude, expressed joy over her son’s recognition by the Church. “He was a boy who loved prayer and lived with integrity,” she said, urging young people to emulate his faithfulness.

The Community of Sant’Egidio, with which Floribert was associated, described his sacrifice as a testament to the “new forms of martyrdom” in societies plagued by corruption. “His silent sacrifice shakes the social and political structures of countries where corruption has become commonplace,” the community said in a statement.

Pope Francis has frequently spoken out against corruption, warning of its destructive impact on individuals and societies. “Whenever we take a bribe or pocket a kickback, we destroy our heart, our personality, and our country,” he said during a 2015 address.

In 2023, while meeting with young Congolese at Kinshasa’s Martyrs Stadium, Pope Francis cited Floribert as a shining example of integrity, noting his prayerful life, commitment to others, and rejection of corruption. Beyond his professional duties, Floribert was dedicated to peace, reconciliation, and aiding street children in his community. A school in a refugee camp in Goma now bears his name, honoring his legacy.

Floribert Bwana joins a distinguished group of Congolese martyrs recognized by the Church, including Isidore Bakandja, Marie-Clementine Anuarite, and Albert Joubert, who was beatified alongside two Italian companions in Uvira.

13/09/2024

This week in Rome, the coffin of Cardinal Gregorio Pietro XV Agagianian (1895-1971) was opened, revealing his incorruptible body. He served as a Roman Catholic cardinal and the Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church from 1937 to 1962.

On September 12, 2024, his incorruptible remains were transported from Rome to Beirut. The body of the 76-year-old man appears as youthful as someone in their 30s or even younger.

We have a new saint.

15/08/2024

Letter from the Bishop Conference.

11/03/2024

A SPIRITAN APPOINTED NEW RECTOR OF PONTIFICAL COLLEGE OF ST PAUL THE APOSTLE,

The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has entrusted the *Pontifical College of St. Paul the Apostle* in Rome to the Spiritans to run and manage. This is the first time in over 200 years that the Spiritans have been asked to serve in this capacity.

Our beloved confrere, Fr. *Francis Ayodele Ayeni* CSSp, who graduated _Juris Doctor_(Doctor of Law) last month February 15, 2024 from New Brunswick University in Canada, has been appointed by the General Council to serve as the *Rector of the College.* God bless Spiritans and huge congratulations to Fr. Ayeni.

29/02/2024

Mother's Day Celebration for 2024 in Nigeria

The Mother's Day Celebration (Mother's Sunday) of 2024 shall be held on APRIL 14, which is the Sunday immediately after the Solemnity of Annunciation of Monday April 8, 2024.

This is a national Catholic celebration in Nigeria and shall be celebrated on the same day and not according the pleasurable date of each Catholic diocese in Nigeria.

According to a letter dated 23 February 2024, and signed by Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Rev. Fr. Zacharia Nyantiso Samjuml:

The "Mother's Day Celebration in the Catholic Church is predicated on the SOLEMNITY OF THE ANGEL GABRIEL VISITING MARY AND ANNOUNCING THAT SHE WILL BE THE MOTHER OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

Therefore, the Mother's Day Celebration should be held on the Sunday immediately after the Solemnity of the Annunciation if the solemnity does not occur on a Sunday."

Even though the Solemnity of the Annunciation usually falls during the Lenten period, nevertheless, Sundays are not always part of Lenten observance."

Mothers' Day Celebration should be held the same day across the nation."

The letter ended with an admonition that those concerned should "do well to direct all diocesan CWON presidents across the dioceses in Nigeria."

One of the marks of the Catholic Church is unity which effects organization and order. This therefore helps to quench the confusion of date disparity that follows the celebration of the Mother's Day Celebration in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, this resolution is one of the fruits of the latest planery meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria held from February 16 to 23, 2024, which is the highest governing body in Nigerian Catholicism.

Thanks to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria.

19/12/2023

Today is the Episcopal Ordination of the Newly Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Ahiara Diocese. We join them in prayers as it is ongoing now.

15/12/2023

Program of events for the Episcopal Ordination activities of Msgr Simeon Okezuo Nwobi CMF, Auxiliary Bishop-Elect to the Apostolic Administrator (sede vacante) of Ahiara Diocese.

Sunday, 17th December to Tuesday, 19th December 2023

Catholic Affairs

Ahiara Catholic Diocese

13/12/2023

Happy 54th Priestly Anniversary dear beloved Holy Father, Pope Francis ❤️🥰🙏

On this day in 1969, Pope Francis was ordained to the priesthood!

A Jesuits Priest, an extraordinary man, a gentle man.

09/12/2023

Pope Francis announced Friday that the Catholic Church will celebrate its first World Day of Children in May 2024.

Speaking in his Angelus address on Dec. 8 to mark the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the pope shared that the Church’s first children’s day will be celebrated in Rome on the weekend of May 25-26.

He said “And now I have the joy of announcing that on May 25 and 26 next year, we will celebrate the first World Day of Children in Rome,” Pope Francis said from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

“Like Jesus, we want to put children at the center and care for them,” he added.

The pope explained that the day, organized by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, will seek to answer the question “What kind of world do we wish to pass on to the children who are growing up?”

According to Vatican News, the event was inspired by a 9-year-old boy named Alessandro, who proposed the idea to the pope to have an international event like World Youth Day (an international gathering for young people ages 16 to 35) for younger children.

The Vatican is expecting thousands of girls and boys from all over the world to travel to Rome for the event with the pope.

Last November, the Vatican hosted an event with 7,500 children from five continents in the Paul VI Hall as a prelude to next year’s World Day of Children.

The pope announced the creation of a children’s day after praying the Angelus prayer with the crowd gathered near the Christmas tree in St. Peter’s Square to mark the day’s Marian feast. Pope Francis reflected on the young Virgin Mary’s “daily fidelity in simple things.”

“Prior to the Annunciation, the Gospel says nothing about Mary. She is presented as a simple girl, apparently equal to so many others who were living in her village. A young girl who, precisely because of her simplicity, kept pure that Immaculate Heart with which, by God’s grace, she had been conceived. And this too is important, for to welcome God’s great gifts, it is necessary to know how to treasure those that are more everyday and less apparent,” the pope said.

“It is precisely with her daily fidelity in goodness that Our Lady allowed God’s gift to grow within her. This is how she trained herself to respond to the Lord, to say ‘yes’ to him with her entire life,” he added.

08/12/2023

POPE FRANCIS APPOINTS NEW BISHOP OF ILORIN

Following the death on New Year’s Day in 2022 of Most Rev. Paul Olawoore, Bishop of Ilorin (2018-2022) aged 60, Pope Francis has today appointed a substantive new Bishop of Ilorin in the person of Very Rev. Fr. Anselm Pendo Lawani, until now Diocesan Administrator of Ilorin.

Monsignor Anselm Pendo Lawani was born on 12 September 1970 in Igarra, Edo State in Nigeria. He was ordained as a priest on 15 August 2000 for the clergy of the Diocese of Ilorin. After attending Saints Peter and Paul Major Seminary in Bodija, Ibadan, he earned his Master of Divinity degree from the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Chicago, Illinois (U.S.A.).

He has held the following positions: Parish Vicar at St. Joseph in Osi (2000-2001); Assistant Parish Priest at Holy Angels in Chicago (2001-2005); Parish Administrator at Holy Angels in Chicago (2006); parish priest of St. Bartholomew in Kaiama (2006); parish priest of St. Anthony in Fate (2006-2010); Director of Vocations of the Diocese of Ilorin (2008-2022); since 2008, Member of the College of Consultors of the Diocese of Ilorin; parish priest of St. Anthony in Fate (2010-2012); parish priest of St. Cyprian in Offa/Erin-Ile (2012-2017); Dean of Ilorin Deanery (2017-2023); since 2017 until now, Parish Administrator of St. Joseph Cathedral, Ilorin; since 2022, Diocesan Administrator of Ilorin.

We wish him God’s blessings and wisdom in this high new office.

05/12/2023

From Generation to generation you never fail to gather for yourself those that will offer sacrifice for the remission of our sins.

13/11/2023

BISHOP JOSEPH REFUSED TO RESIGN AFTER POPE FRANCIS REMOVED HIM FROM OFFICE

Pope Francis removed Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, from his post Saturday after he refused to resign, according to Galveston-Houston archbishop Cardinal Daniel DiNardo.

Strickland’s ouster on Nov. 11 comes after the Vatican Dicastery for Bishops completed a formal investigation in the diocese earlier this year called an apostolic visitation, which, according to a source, looked into the bishop’s social media use and questions related to diocesan management. The visitation was carried out by Bishop Dennis Sullivan of Camden, New Jersey, and Bishop Emeritus Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona.

“As a result of the visitation, the recommendation was made to the Holy Father that the continuation in office of Bishop Strickland was not feasible,” DiNardo said in his Nov. 11 statement.

“After months of careful consideration by the Dicastery for Bishops and the Holy Father, the decision was reached that the resignation of Bishop Strickland should be requested,” DiNardo continued. “Having been presented with that request on Nov. 9, 2023, Bishop Strickland declined to resign from office. Thereafter, on Nov. 11, 2023, the Holy Father removed Bishop Strickland from the Office of Bishop of Tyler.”

Strickland, 65, served as bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, a suffragan diocese of Galveston-Houston, since 2012. The widely popular though polarizing Texas bishop had faced criticism for his firebrand social media posts, including a May 12 tweet that suggested Pope Francis was “undermining the Deposit of Faith.”

The Vatican announcement did not provide a reason for the bishop’s removal. Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin will serve as the apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Tyler until a new bishop is appointed.

The Diocese of Tyler released a statement Saturday morning announcing Strickland’s removal and Vásquez’s appointment.

“Our work as the Catholic Church in northeast Texas continues. Our mission is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to foster an authentic Christian community, and to serve the needs of all people with compassion and love,” the statement said. “We strive to deepen our faith, promote the common good, and create a welcoming environment for all to encounter the loving God — Father, Son, and Spirit.”

“During this time of transition, we pray that God may continue to abundantly bless and strengthen the Church and God’s holy, faithful people here and around the world.”

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