Ghanaian Bishop Anokye is New President of Caritas Africa

Ghana’s Archbishop of Kumasi, Gabriel Justice Yaw Anokye, has been elected President of Caritas Africa at a meeting of Caritas Africa held in Rome. Director of Communications at Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Ben Assorow has confirmed this to Vatican Radio.

Archbishop Gabriel Justice Yaw Anokye of Kumasi, Ghana was elected President of Caritas Africa at an election held in Rome. Caritas Africa held its meeting a few days before the main Caritas Internationalis’ 20th General Assembly that was also held recently, in Rome Italy.   About 400 people from more than 160 national Caritas Organisations attended the Assembly.

The same Archbishop has also been elected Second Vice-President of Caritas Internationalis (CI) during the said Assembly.  He is again the Second Vice-President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).

The Newly-elected President of Caritas Internationalis is Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines. Michel Roy was reconfirmed as Secretary General of the Caritas Confederation and a new board was appointed. Alexander Bodmann of Austria was elected as new treasurer.  South Sudan became the 165th national member organisation of the Caritas Confederation.

The newly-elected president, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, said, “Pope Francis gave us inspirational words on seeking to expand our work at the beginning of our General Assembly.  With the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Pope Francis’s encyclical on ecology and the UN climate meeting in Paris this year, Caritas will work towards putting the human family and human dignity at the heart of development.”

Lastly, Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered for standing with the poor in El Salvador,   was adopted as a Patron of Caritas Internationalis.

(e-mail: engafrica@vatiradio.va)