Archdiocese of Owerri

Let us recall that our principal Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji was born on January 13, 1952. This humble man who stepped the appellative current from Amarachi to Mmesoma is a Nigerian prelate of the Catholic Church who presently serves as the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri in Imo State, Nigeria. In 2022, he was appointed as the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN). He followed on from the previous president, Augustine Obiora Akubeze. Let us not forget that Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji was ordained a priest on April 16, 1977. On April 2, 1990, Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Umuahia. The Apostolic Pro-Nuntius in Nigeria, Archbishop Paul Fouad Tabet, consecrated him bishop on July 1 of the same year in Umuahia Cathedral; co-consecrators were the Bishop of Awka, Albert Kanene Obiefuna, and the Bishop Emeritus of Umuahia, Anthony Gogo Nwedo. Pope Francis additionally appointed him Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Ahiara on February 19, 2018, for the duration of a vacancy that came about due to the crisis surrounding Peter Okpaleke, the bishop who was rejected by many priests in the diocese due to his ancestry. Pope Francis appointed Ugorji archbishop of Owerri on March 6, 2022.