Ghana's Bishops meet Pope Francis at Vatican

The bishops of Ghana are currently in Rome for their five-yearly Ad Limina Visit.

During the 22-25 September visit, the bishops will be able to share about their local church with Pope Francis and Holy See officials.

The Catholic Bishops of Ghana began their four-day Ad Limina visit on Monday 22nd September. During the visit, undertaken by every bishops’ conference once every five years, they will meet with Pope Francis and officials of the Roman Curia offices.

The current president of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) is Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu of the Diocese of Konongo-Mampong.

The Catholic Church in Ghana has four Metropolitan Archdioceses, 15 Dioceses and the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom run by the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD). The dioceses in Ghana fall under four ecclesiastical provinces, namely: Accra, Cape Coast, Kumasi and Tamale.

The first mass in what is modern-day Ghana was celebrated at Elmina in 1482 following the arrival of Portuguese traders. However, the first Catholic baptism in the then Gold Coast was administered by missionaries of the Society of African Missions or SMA Fathers in 1880. Two years later, the first attempts to establish a mission in Kumasi were made but it was not until 1896 that an Apostolic Vicariate was established in Cape Coast.

In 1950, the Ecclesiastical Province of Gold Coast was established comprising the Archdiocese of Cape Coast and the dioceses of Ketam, Kumasi, Accra and Tamale.

Pope St. John Paul II visited Ghana in 1980. In 2003, he created the country’s first cardinal, His Eminence Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson. The former Archbishop of Cape Coast is currently serving as President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

The government of Ghana established diplomatic relations with the Holy See on the 14th of June 1976 and the Apostolic nunciature of Ghana was inaugurated that same year.

Ghana capital, Accra is hosting the headquarters of the continental grouping of bishops’ conferences SECAM, which stands for the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar.