Bishop Mensah elected into Pontifical Council

Pope John Paul II has appointed the Most Reverend Thomas Kwaku Mensah, the Catholic Bishop of Obuasi as a member of the Pontifical Council in charge of health in Africa.

The Most Rev. George Kocherry, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana and Togo announced this at a pontifical high mass at the St. Thomas Cathedral at Obuasi on Sunday. According to the Apostolic Nuncio who is on a pastoral visit to the Obuasi Diocese, the Bishop is expected to inform and report on health situation in Africa to the Pope.

The Most Rev. Kocherry added that by his appointment, Bishop Mensah was expected to attend an international conference on health on 9 June, this year at

Nairobi, Kenya.

The Minister of State in charge of Basic, Secondary and Girl-Child Education, Mrs Christine Churcher who was present at the mass on behalf of president J.A. Kufuor and the government congratulated Bishop Mensah for the honour done to the nation. She said by his appointment, Ghana is in the spiritual realm of leading the crusade against HIV/AIDS.

Bishop Mensah later told the Ghana News Agency that he would ensure an effective partnership between the Church and the government on health issues. He promised to establish good relationship with the Ministry of Health to achieve his objective.

Most Rev. Mensah said his new role was challenging and called on the Church to pray for him to work efficiently. "We will continue to promote the health of all devoid of HIV/AIDS", he said, adding that, "condom will not solve the problem but self-discipline."

Bishop Thomas K. Mensah, who was ordained into the priesthood in 3 June, 1973 become the Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops' Conference in 1992 before he was installed the Bishop of the Obuasi Diocese in 1995. Since 1997, Bishop Mensah has been Chairman, Department of Health of the Catholic Bishops' Conference and has since been attending both local and international conferences on health.