Pope Francis has nominated Msgr. Roger Houngbdji, OP as the new Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cotonou in Benin Republic. He is a son of the Vice-Province of West Africa.
Msgr Roger was born in Porto-Novo, Benin in 1963, he made his first religious profession in the Order in 1985 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1992.
He did his first cycle of theological studies at Lyon. He then studied at the Catholic Institute of West Africa where he obtained a Licentiate in Theology. He also has a degree in Biblical Theology from the University of Fribourg.
He has served in various capacities, including Master of Students in Abidjan (1993-1995 and 1996-1997) and in Yaound, Cameroon (1995-1996); Regional prior of the Regional Vicariate of West Africa (1997-1999 and 2007-2009); Socius of the Master of the Order (1999-2007) and Vice-Provincial of the Vice-Province of West Africa (2009-2015).
He is currently a lecturer at the Catholic University of West Africa in Abidjan, and at the Dominican St. Thomas Aquinas Institute in Yamoussoukro, Cte d’Ivoire. He was just reelected for the second term as the President of the Conference of Major Superiors of Cte d’Ivoire.
The Archdiocese of Cotonou in the Republic of Benin covers an area of about 3,000 sq. km. It has a total population of about 2.5 million, of which about 800,000 are Catholics, 306 are priests and 709 are religious.
(26 June 2016)