Edéa: Pope Leo accepts retirement of Bishop Jean-Bosco Ntep ⁰

Pope Leo XIV has accepted the retirement of Bishop Jean-Bosco Ntep from the pastoral care of Cameroon’s Catholic Diocese of Edéa and appointed Mons. Paul Nyaga Nwaha, Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC), as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese.

The changes were made public by the Holy See Press Office on Thursday, June 4 and announced by the President of NECC, Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea, during the Catholic Bishops’ 51st Plenary Assembly.

Born on 3 April 1951 in Hikoamaen, Cameroon, Bishop Ntep was ordained a Priest on 25 March 1979.

In 22 March 1993, St. John Paul II appointed him the first Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Eséka, which had been erected the same day. He was Consecrated Bishop in July 1993.

After 11 years and three months leading Eséka Diocese, Bishop Ntep was appointed Bishop of Edéa on 15 October 2004 and installed on 4 December 2004.

Mons. Nyaga, who will govern the Diocese Edéa until a Local Ordinary is appointed was born in 1959 and ordained a priest for Cameroon’s Catholic Archdiocese of Douala in 1987.

He studied theology at the Pontifical Urbanian College in Rome and later attended the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, earning doctorates in both Canon and Civil Law and in Ecclesiology.

Following his Priestly Ordination, he served as Vice-Rector of Saint Paul Minor Seminary in Nylon before undertaking assignments in several Apostolic Nunciatures.

Upon returning to Douala, he served as Vicar General of the Archdiocese, Rector of St. Jerome Catholic University of Douala, and President of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of the Ecclesiastical Province of Douala.

Before his appointment as NECC Secretary General, Mons. Nyaga was Parish Priest of Saint Monica of Makèpè.

He also served as Parish Priest of Our Lady of Lourdes of Japoma, St. Paul of Nylon, and Saint Louis of Bonabéri. In addition, he taught at the Major Theological Seminary of Douala and served as Episcopal Vicar for the Wouri 8 pastoral zone.

On 2 May 1994, he was named Chaplain of His Holiness (Cappellanus Sanctitatis Suae), a papal honorific that confers the title “Monsignor.”

The Diocese of Edéa covers 10,500 square kilometers and, according to 2023 statistics, has 185,368 Catholics, representing 60.8 percent of the total population.

Part of the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Douala, the Diocese was erected on 22 March 1993.

Source: aci Africa