Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of the Catholic Diocese of Oyo has been appointed to the Vatican Dicastery for Communications by Pope Francis.
The appointment was announced in a statement made available by Rev. Fr. John Irekiigbe, the Director of Communications, Oyo Diocese, to Nigeria Standard on Friday.
Nigeria Standard reports that the Dicastery of Communications is the administrative department of the Holy See (The Vatican State) through which Pope Francis directs affairs that pertain to Social Communications in the Roman Catholic Church.
Badejo has, since 2015, been the Bishop President for CEPACS, the French acronym for the Pan African Episcopal Committee for Social Communications, which is the communications committee of Bishops for the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar.
Badejo, a communications scholar, served as the Communications Secretary and later on, Director, to the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria between 1996 and 2003.
He is currently the Vice-Chairman, Social Communications Department of the Regional Episcopal Conferences of West Africa.
In an interview with newsmen shortly after the announcement, Badejo said that this assignment of service would help the communication apostolate of the Catholic Church in Nigeria and Africa to relate better with the Holy Father’s pastoral initiatives.
“I pray and trust that this assignment of service will help the communication apostolate of the Catholic Church in Nigeria and Africa to relate better with the Holy Father’s pastoral initiatives and better expose the pastoral activities of the Church in Nigeria and in Africa to the whole world,” he said.
Other members of the Dicastery are the archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican, Cardinal Maura Gambetti, O.F.M., and the Secretary-General of the Latin American Episcopal Council Archbishop Jorge Eduardo Lozano of San Juan de Cuyo.
Also, Archbishop Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia of the Ukrainians, and the Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops Reverend Sr. Nathalie Becquart, X.M.C.J., will serve in the dicastery.
