Catholic Bishops to meet Pope

Accra, April 18, GNA - A nineteen member delegation from the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference left Accra Monday night for a two week meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

The delegation, led by Most Rev Lucas Abadamloora, President of the Conference, included His Eminence, Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson of the Cape Coast Diocese, Most Rev Gabriel Charles Palmer Buckle, Vice President of the Conference and Archbishop of Accra, Archbishops Gregory Kpiebaya of Tamale and Peter Sarpong of Kumasi.

A statement from the Department of Social Communications (DEPSOCOM) of the National Catholic Secretariat (NCS), said the visit, known as the 'Ad Limina', was a statutory one that every bishop was expected to make every five years.

The bishops are expected to brief the Pope on the activities that they had carried out or plan to carry out in their dioceses. It said the last time the Ghanaian bishops went on an Ad Limina was in 1999, because a scheduled visit for 2004 was cancelled due to the heavy workload and poor health of Pope John Paul II.

The Statement said while in the Vatican, the bishops would hold discussions with some of Dicasteries or Ministries and Department of the Vatican.

They would also attend a three-day seminar on communications at the Gregorian University on the theme; Modern Media Technologies and Pastoral Efficiency, with particular reference to Information and Communication Technology.

Accompanying the bishops were Rev Monsignor Seth Osei Agyemang, Secretary General of the Bishops conference and Mr Benedict Assorow, Executive Secretary of DEPSOCOM.