Papal Representative in Ghana Assumes Office, Promises Collaboration with Local Ordinaries

Accra, 10 September, 2020 / 7:55 PM

Archbishop Henryk Mieczyslaw Jagodzinski has officially assumed office as the Apostolic Nuncio in Ghana.

Presenting his “Letter of Introduction” to Local Ordinaries in Ghana on Wednesday, September 9, Archbishop Jagodzinski promised to collaborate with the Catholic Bishops in the West African nation.

“I pledge to draw the Church in Ghana and the Catholic Community closer to the mission and Gospel of Christ,” Archbishop Jagodzinski who hails from Poland said while presenting his Introduction Letter to members of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) in a brief ceremony at the National Catholic Secretariat.

The representative of the Holy Father also pledged to help the Church to grow from strength to strength.

He explained the reason behind the brief meeting saying, “It is a tradition that every Nuncio assigned to a mission should bring a letter from the Vatican’s Secretary of State to the Bishops Conference of the country to which the Nuncio is sent."

The 51-year-old Diplomat thanked the members of GCBC for the warm reception he was accorded when he arrived in the West African country September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Appointed by Pope Francis as the ninth Apostolic Nuncio in Ghana on May 3, Archbishop Jagodzinski was ordained a Priest in June 1995. 

He entered the Holy See diplomatic service in 2001. Since then, he has served in the Pontifical Representations in Belarus, Croatia and India as well as the Vatican’s Section for Relations with States in the Secretariat of State.

From 2018 until his May 3 appointment as Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, he was assigned as First Counsellor in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

He takes over from Archbishop Jean Marie Speich who served as Nuncio in the West African nation for six years from August 2013 to March 2019.

The President of GCBC, Archbishop Philip Naameh who received Nuncio’s Letter of Introduction” assured the Nuncio of unflinching support and collaboration from the Local Ordinaries in Ghana for the growth of the Church in the West African nation.

Archbishop Naameh offered a prayer for a successful accord between the Church hierarchy and the Nunciature.