The Labour Party’s Presidential candidate, Peter Obi and the Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo were in Rome on Saturday as Pope Francis named the Bishop of Ekwulobia, Peter Okpaleke, as a cardinal.
His new name is now His Eminence Peter Cardinal Okpaleke.
Okpaleke was born on 1 March, 1963 is a Nigerian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Bishop of Ekwulobia since 29 April 2020.
He was appointed Bishop of Ahiara in 2012 and consecrated in 2013, but after the local clergy and laity insisted on an Mbaise bishop instead he was installed as bishop of Ekwulobia.
Soludo was at the St. Peters Square in Rome as a special guest and leader of the Ndi Anambra delegation at the event.
On 19 February 2018, Pope Francis accepted Okpaleke’s resignation as Bishop of Ahiara.
On 5 March 2020, just over two years after accepting his resignation as Bishop of Ahiara, Pope Francis appointed Okpaleke the Bishop of the Diocese of Ekwulobia, a newly created diocese in Anambra State which formerly had its territory under the jurisdiction of Awka Diocese. Okpaleke was installed there on 29 April 2020.
Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 27 August 2022, assigning him to the rank of cardinal priest with the titular church of Ss. Martiri dell’Uganda a Poggio Ameno.
