Very Rev. Fr. Samuel Nkuah-Boateng is new Bishop for Wiawso Diocese

Pope Francis has appointed the Cathedral Administrator of the Wiawso Diocese, Very Rev Fr, Samuel Nkuah-Boateng as the new Bishop for the Diocese.

The appointment of Very Rev. Fr. Samuel Nkuah-Boateng as a bishop was announced concurrently in Rome, the National Catholic Secretariat in Accra and at the Our Lady of Annunciation Cathedral in Wiawso on Thursday, January 26, 2023.

He succeeds Most Rev. Joseph Francis Kweku Essien, who has served in the position for the past 28 years. The appointment also means that Pope Francis has accepted Bishop Essien’s resignation from office and pastoral care of the Wiawso Diocece.

Catholic Trends reported earlier this week that Pope Francis was likely to appoint new bishops for some dioceses in Ghana because their current bishops have either reached or will reach the canonical retirement age of 75 this year.

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The visit of the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Most Rev. Henryk Mieczysaw Jagodziski, to the Catholic Diocese of Wiawso for a meeting with all the Priests, Religious and a cross-section of the lay faithful scheduled for today at 11:00 a.m., which meant that it would be 12 noon in Rome, was also reported by Catholic Trends.

In Canon Law, the ultimate decision in appointing bishop’s rests with the Pope in Rome. The process for selecting candidates for the episcopacy however normally begins at the diocesan level and works its way through a series of consultations until it reaches Rome.