Pope Appoints New Arch Bishop

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Fr. Charles Edward Tamba of Kenema and rector of St. Paul's Major Seminary in Freetown, as Archbishop of Freetown and Bo (Sierra Leone).

He succeeds Bishop Joseph Ganda who retired last year. Archbishop-elect Tamba was born in Kainkordu (Diocese of Kenema), on April 18, 1956. Following the completion of his secondary studies, he attended the Pre-Seminary of St. Kizito of Kenema, in 1977, and from 1978-1985, Saint Paul's Major Seminary in Gbarnga.
He was ordained a priest on April 4, 1986, in Kono, for the Diocese of Kenema. He has since ministered as follows: 1986-89: Vice-Administrator for the Cathedral of St. Paul; 1989-91: philosophy professor in St. Paul's Major Seminary, Gbarnga, Liberia y Makeni; 1991-96: licentiate studies in dogmatic theology at the Gregorian University; 1996-98: Vice-rector of St. Paul's Major Seminary, Makeni; 1998-02: Acting Rector of St. Paul's Major Seminary Freetown; since 2002: Rector of St. Paul's Major Seminary, Freetown.

The Archdiocese of Freetown and Bo was established in 1970. It has an area of 20,251 sq. km, a population 1,396,494 of whom 80,000 are Catholic, served by 59 priests and 29 religious.

At the same time, the Holy Father appointed Fr. Etienne Ung'eyowun of the clergy of Mahagi-Nioka, Democratic Republic of the Congo, adjunct secretary general of the national bishops' conference, as bishop of Bondo. The Diocese of Bondo has 82,017 Catholics, 20 priests and 18 religious. Fr. Ung'eyowun was born in Nyalebbe in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1988.