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Deputy Superior General of Missionaries of Africa Appointed Bishop of Wa Diocese, Ghana

Mons. Francis Bomansaan, appointed Bishop of Ghana's Wa Diocese on 22 May 2024. Credit: Wa Diocese

Mons. Francis Bomansaan, the Deputy Superior General of the Society of the Missionaries of Africa (M.Afr.), has been appointed Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wa in Ghana.

The Ghanaian Catholic Diocese has been vacant since November 2022 after the passing on of  Richard Kuuia Cardinal Baawobr.

The Holy See Press Office made public the Episcopal appointment of Mons. Bomansaan on Wednesday, May 22.

Born in January 1962 in the Catholic Diocese of Wa, the Bishop-elect entered the Society of African Missionaries in 1983. He made his Perpetual Profession in the Society in December 1990.

Ordained a Missionary of Africa Priest in July 1991, Mons. Bomansaan has ministered in various countries in Africa and beyond.

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In Tanzania, he served in the Catholic Archdiocese of Mbeya as Parish Priest (1991-1993). In his native country of Ghana and neighboring Nigeria, he served as Provincial Superior and first advisor to the provincial superior at different times (1999-2011), besides serving as Vocations Director of his Society in Ghana (1999-2003).

In Zambia, the Bishop-elect was the Novice Master at the International English Speaking Novitiate from 2012-2019.

In the East African nation of Kenya, he was at the helm of the Addiction Rehabilitation Centre from 2021-2022, before he was elected Deputy Superior general of the Missionaries of Africa.

Earlier, in Europe, Mons. Bomansaan had served as Director of vocational animation and formator in Lublin, Poland (1995-1998); and formator and bursar of Saint Edward College in London (2004-2005), 

The holder of several diplomas, including those in Ignatian Spirituality from the Jesuits Centre in Liverpool, Psycho-Spirituality and counselling from Chicago, Spiritual counselling skills and Community living from the Institute of St. Anselm in London, and Religious Formation Ministry Programme from Loreto House in Dublin, Ireland, is set to succeed the late Cardinal Baawobr.

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The Ghanaian member of the Missionaries of Africa, who was among the Catholic Church leaders elevated to Cardinal during the 27 August 2022 Consistory, died on 27 November 2022, days after he had been discharged from hospital in Rome. He was 63.

In December 2022, members of the College of Consultors of the Catholic Diocese of Wa elected Fr. Edward Tengan as Diocesan Administrator to govern the Episcopal See “ad interim”. The Ghanaian Catholic Priest passed on in August last year.

Mons. Bomansaan is set to become the 5th Local Ordinary of the Ghanaian Diocese, which measures 18,478 square kilometers with a population of 422,000 Catholics, who represent 43.7.9 percent of the total population in the Diocese, according to 2022 statistics.

Erected in November 1959 and elevated to a Diocese in May 1977, Wa Diocese is part of the Metropolitan See of Tamale in the West African nation.

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