AFRICA/NIGERIA - Bishop of Ahiara: “If there is a lesson we can learn from the past, it is that it is important to listen to one another”

Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - “If there is a lesson we can learn from this, it is that it is important to listen to one another, as in a family,” says the Bishop of Ahiara in Nigeria, Simeon Okezuo Nwobi, to Fides.
“Between father, mother and children there can be misunderstandings, but ultimately children must obey their parents,” stresses Bishop Simeon Okezuo Nwobi. To understand the Bishop's statement, it is necessary to look back at the recent history of his diocese.
The diocese of Ahiara was the subject of a controversial episcopal appointment after Peter Ebere Okpaleke was appointed as local bishop by Pope Benedict XVI on December 7, 2012, (see Fides, 7/12/2012). Given the strong opposition in the diocese to which he was assigned, Bishop Okpaleke was unable to take office.

On June 8, 2017, during a private audience with a delegation from the diocese, Pope Francis expressed his "deep regret" for the matter (see Fides, 9/6/2017) and asked "that every priest or church official incardinated in the diocese of Ahiara, both those who reside there and those who live and work elsewhere or abroad, write me a letter asking for forgiveness; everyone should write to me individually and personally; we must all share this pain.
In this letter
1. obedience to the Pope must be expressed unequivocally, and
2. the writer must be ready to recognize the bishop whom the Pope sends and appoints.
3. The letter must be sent within 30 days from today and by July 9. Anyone who does not do so will be ipso facto suspended and removed from office a divinis."

On February 19, 2018 (see, Fides 19/2/2018), a communication from the then Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples announced that the Holy Father "received, in the months of June and July 2017, as he had requested, a total of 200 letters from individual priests of the Diocese of Ahiara in which they reaffirmed their obedience and fidelity to him." However, it was also pointed out that it was difficult for him to work with the bishop "after all these years of conflict." "In view of the repentance shown, the Holy Father did not wish to impose canonical sanctions and entrusted the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples to responding to each of the priests individually; the Congregation invited each priest to reflect on the grave damage caused to the Church of Christ and hoped that in the future such unreasonable acts of resistance to a bishop appointed by the Holy Father will not be repeated; it also called on the clergy to make gestures of forgiveness and reconciliation towards the bishop," the statement reads.
At the same time (see Fides, 19/2/2018) the Pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke of Ahiara.

After appointing an Apostolic Administrator "Sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" in the person of Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, on May 3, 2024 Pope Francis appointed Simeon Okezuo Nwobi as Bishop of Ahiara (see Fides, 3/5/2024), who had already been appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the diocese on October 14, 2023.
"My appointment was greeted with joy and I was overwhelmingly accepted by the faithful," says Bishop Okezuo Nwobi. "The faithful show me their solidarity and even the people of Ahiara who live in the diaspora in different parts of the world have shown me their support so that I can carry out the task entrusted to me by the Holy Father in the best possible way. Therefore, I can say that I believe that the future of the Diocese of Ahiara is bright; the Church is alive," he concludes. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 28/9/2024)

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