Monsignor Ignace Bessi Dogbo has been metropolitan archbishop of Korhogo (northern Côte d’Ivoire) since 2021. His appointment was announced on Monday 20 May 2024 in the auditorium of Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Abidjan Plateau by the Apostolic Nuncio, Mgr Mauricio Rueda Beltz.
The announcement was made in the presence of Cardinal Jean Pierre Kutwa, who until then had held the position of Metropolitan Archbishop of Abidjan. From now on, Cardinal Kutwa will be known as “Archbishop Emeritus of Abidjan.”
The new archbishop of Abidjan holds a degree in exegesis from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. Appointed bishop of the diocese of Katiola (Centre-Nord) in March 2004, he received his episcopal
consecration on 4 July, almost five months later.
Pastor of Yopougon cathedral (1997-2004), in the west of Abidjan, he was also professor of biblical languages at the ‘Grand Séminaire Saint-Paul d’Abadjan Koute’ and diocesan spiritual assistant to the ‘Jeunesse étudiante catholique’ (Catholic Student Youth).
After ordination to the priesthood, Bishop Bessi served in several parishes from 1987 to 1989. Ignace Dogbo was also diocesan director of the Pontifical Mission Societies from 1993 to 1995 and vicar general of Yopougon (1995-2004).
From 2007 to 2023, he chaired the Ivorian Episcopal Conference. The new metropolitan archbishop of Abidjan, Mgr Ignace Bessi Dogbo was born on 17 August 1961 in Niangon-Adjamé, in the diocese of Yopougon, and was ordained a priest on 2 August 1987.
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