Pope Francis appoints new apostolic nuncio to Ghana

Julien Kaboré, a priest from Burkina Faso with two decades of Vatican diplomatic experience, will be made an archbishop before taking his first post as a nuncio.

Pope Francis has appointed Mgr. Julien Kaboré as apostolic nuncio — the Vatican’s equivalent of ambassador — to Ghana, the Holy See Press Office reported on June 29, 2024. This is the first nuncio post for this diplomat originally from Burkina Faso, on whom the pope is conferring the dignity of archbishop.

In Ghana, the 56-year-old prelate will fill the vacancy left by the departure of the former nuncio, Archbishop Henryk Mieczyslaw Jagodzinski, who was appointed to South Africa and Lesotho last April.

From Burkina Faso to the world

Born in Zorgho, Burkina Faso, on June 18, 1968, Julien Kaboré was ordained a priest at the age of 27 on July 8, 1995, for the diocese of Koupéla. After studying at the Ecclesiastical Academy — which trains the staff of nunciatures — he joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See on July 1, 2004.

The priest, who speaks French, English, Italian, and Spanish, has worked in papal representations in Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica, Korea, Croatia, Trinidad and Tobago, the Philippines, and Ireland. He is due to be consecrated a bishop before taking up his new assignment.

A country where Catholics are a minority

Ghana has a population of just over 30 million, 12% of whom are Catholics. Pentecostal groups are in the majority (28%) in the country, ahead of Protestant Christianity (18%). Around 17% of the population is Muslim.

Pope Francis received Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo at the Vatican on July 22, 2023, followed by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia on April 24, 2024. There is currently one cardinal from Ghana, Card. Peter Turkson. He currently resides at the Vatican, where he serves as the current Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.