Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On October 13, 2025, Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches), appointed Father Francis Papa Bangura, of the clergy of the Diocese of Makeni, as National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) of Sierra Leone and Gambia, for the five-year term 2025-2030.
The new National Director was born in 1977 in Makeni, Sierra Leone. He studied philosophy and theology at St. Paul’s Major Seminary. He was ordained a priest on January 28, 2005, and incardinated into the Diocese of Makeni. He then earned a Certificate in Pastoral Ministry Course at the Lumko Institute (South Africa, 2008) and a Diploma in Education at the University of Makeni (2010). He then earned a Licentiate in Catechesis and Pastoral Care at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome (2011-2014).
He held the following ecclesiastical offices: Secretary to the Bishop (2007-2011); Parish Priest of Holy Spirit Parish in Makeni (2015-2019); Parish Priest of Immaculate Conception Parish in Magnuraka (2019-2023). Since 2024, he has served as Secretary General of the Inter-Territorial Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Gambia and Sierra Leone (ITCABIC). (EG) (Agenzia Fides, 2/12/2025)
