By Jesse Ampah Owusu
Accra, Aug. 11, GNA – The Most Reverend Henryk Mieczyslaw Jagodzinski, Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, has paid a “canonical” visit to the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra at the Holy Spirit Cathedral, Adabraka, Accra.
The five-day visitation is the first and official visit of the Apostolic Nuncio to the Archdiocese since his appointment in September 2020.
The Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana is the representative of the Pope in the country at the Apostolic Nunciature to Ghana, an ecclesiastical office of the Catholic Church in Ghana.
Reverend Jagodzinski was welcomed at the Church amidst various Ghanaian traditional dances and culture display. He was presented with a traditional smock and a stool.
The Most Reverend John Bonaventure Kwofie, Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, in a speech read on his behalf, briefed the guest on the history and formation of the Archdiocese, which dated back to January 1893.
He stated that the archdiocese had 187 Catholic churches and a population of 327, 500 as well as 141 priests.
The Archdiocese, he indicated, covered the entire Greater Accra Region and part of the North Tongu District of the Volta Region.
Reverend Kwofie also touched on educational, healthcare and social services rolled out by the diocese over the years, including the establishment of schools and hospitals in the catchment area.
Reverend Jagodzinski encouraged the congregants to continue to live in peace and unity and exhibit those values in all their endeavours.
He urged them to continue to reach out to the unsaved with the word of the Lord and bring them into salvation.
“The gift of faith has been giving to us not only for us, but to share it with those who do not yet know Christ, so that they too may be saved,” he stressed.
The Most Reverend Mieczyslaw Jagodziński was born in Małogoszcz, Poland on 1 January 1969 and was ordained to the priesthood on June 3, 1995 and incardinated in the Diocese of Kielce.
After obtaining a degree in Canon Law, he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on July 1, 2001.
He has served various Pontifical Representatives, including those in Belarus, Croatia, India, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Also, he has worked in the Third Section of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, the Section for Relations with States.
He speaks Polish, Italian, French, English, Croatian, Russian and Spanish.
GNA