Bouake, 15 September, 2025 / 8:25 pm (ACI Africa).
Archbishop Jacques Assanvo Ahiwa of the Catholic Archdiocese of Bouaké in Ivory Coast has urged the people of God to embrace the Cross of Christ with courage and humility as his Metropolitan See marks 100 years of evangelization.
In his homily during the opening Mass of the centenary celebrations in Bouaké, the 70th anniversary of St. Therese of the Child Jesus Cathedral of Bouaké, and the presentation of his pallium, Archbishop Ahiwa encouraged the contemplation of the Cross in the spirit of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, the Patron Saint of Bouaké Archdiocese.
“St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, patroness of our Archdiocese, was a fervent contemplative of the Glorious Cross, of the disfigured face of Christ on the cross. The spirituality of her little way of spiritual childhood draws its deep roots from the contemplation of the crucified Messiah,” the Ivorian Catholic Bishop said on Sunday, September 14, Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
Looking back at the establishment of Bouaké Archdiocese on 14 September 1955, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Archbishop invited the congregation to embrace life’s challenges.
“Born in the shadow of the Glorious Cross, we must not refuse to carry the Cross in the footsteps of Christ. We must not be crushed by the difficulties of life and of our respective missions,” Archbishop Ahiwa said.
