By Kamsi Anayo, Awka
There was jubilation on Sunday at the Catholic Diocese of Ekwulobia, Anambra state over Holiness Pope Francis announcement of Most Rev. Peter Ebere Okpalaeke, Bishop of the diocese as one of 21 new cardinals.
Pope Francis had today (May 29, 2022), at the end of the Regina Coeli, announced a consistory for the creation of 21new cardinals on 27 August.
Among them is His Lordship, Most Rev. Peter Ebere Okpaleke, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ekwulobia.
Okpalaeke, a Nigerian Bishop born on March 1, 1963 from Anambra state was blocked from taking over the Diocese of Ahiara for years.
He was later installed as Bishop of Ekwulobia, thereby bringing to an end a crisis that has shaken the Church in Africa’s most populous nation.
Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke was appointed to Ahiara by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, but a group of priests and laity rejected him because he came from a different Nigerian state, leading to years-long standoff that prevented him from being installed in the diocese.
Okpaleke was installed April 29 as the bishop of the new Ekwulobia Diocese, after renouncing his appointment to Ahiara in 2018 in an effort to resolve the situation.
Okpaleke was appointed by Pope Francis to the new position on March 5, with territory taken from the Diocese of Awka.
Meanwhile, a statement signed by the Chancellor of diocese, Fr. Lawrence Nwankwo has called for prayer for Okpalaeke, while thanking God for the elevation.
“Please pray for His Lordship, Bishop Okpaleke, and thank God with us, the
clergy, religious and lay faithful of the Catholic Diocese of Ekwulobia (CADEK) for this singular honor of the choice of our chief shepherd by the Holy Father,” Nwankwo said.
To date, the Sacred College is made up of 117 cardinals with the right to vote in a future conclave and 91 non-electors. From today to the end of the year there are 7 cardinals who will turn 80 and thus leave the list of cardinal electors.