March 06, (THEWILL) – His Holiness, Pope Francis, has appointed a former Apostolic Administrator of the Ahiara diocese and Bishop of Umuahia, Most Revd (Dr.) Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, as the new Archbishop of Owerri Catholic Archdiocese.
Ugorji is replacing Archbishop John Valentine Obinna, who has attained 75 years, the mandatory retirement age for bishops in the Catholic Church.
The appointment was announced on Sunday by Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, His Grace, Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, who represented Pope at the ongoing opening ceremony of the first plenary meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria in 2022 in Abuja.
He said, “Holy Father, Pope Francis, has accepted the voluntary retirement of His Grace Most Rev. Dr Anthony Obinna as the Archbishop of Owerri Catholic Archdiocese.
“In his place Most Rev Dr Lucius Ugorji of Umuahia Diocese has been appointed the Archbishop of Owerri.
“The respected clergy Archbishop Anthony l Obinna, who has been in that position since March 26 1994, will be replace by Archbishop Ugorji who still remains the Apostolic Administrator of Ahiara Diocese.”
Born 13th January 1952, Ugorji was first ordained a priest at the age of 25 and was appointed a Bishop by Pope John Paul II when he was 38 years old.
He recently resigned his position as chairman, Governing Council of Imo State University, Owerri, a development that came as a surprise to many stakeholders.
Ugorji is said to have approached Governor Hope Uzodinma on several occasions on the proper funding of the University with the request that the tate-owned tertiary institution cannot run or fund itself.
He was said to have claimed that he could not understand how Uzodinma expected him to preside over an underfunded and stagnant University as a cleric.
The man of God also observed that IMSU was not being run as an institution of higher learning deserving of Imo State University status and that in order to avoid dabbling into any mess, he opted to resign.
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