AFRICA/TOGO - New Bishop of Atakpamé appointed

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father Benedict XVI, on 9 January 2008, appointed as Bishop of Atakpamé (Togo) Rev Mgr. Nicodème Anani Barrigah-Benissan until now Councillor at the Nuntiature in Israel.
The Bishop elect was born of Togolese parents in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) on 19 May 1963. As a child he returned with his family to Lome (Togo). He attended primary and secondary school in Lome and then studied philosophy and theology at St Gall major seminary at Ouidah, in Benin. He was ordained a priest for the archdiocese of Lomé on 8 August 1987 in the cathedral of Atakpamé. He studied in Abidjan for licentiate in Theology and obtained a licentiate in Biblical Theology and a doctorate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome. In 1993 he entered the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and presently he is Councillor at the Nuntiature in Israel.
The diocese of Atakpamé, suffragan of the archdiocese of Lomé, was created in 1964. It has an area of 13,45sq km, a population of about 700,000 of whom 260,000 are Catholics gathered in 29 parishes, assisted by 56 diocesan priests and 1 religious priest, 100 women religious and there are 36 major seminarians. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 9/1/2008; Righe 15; Parole 196)