A statement by the Chancellor of the Diocese, Reverend Father Lawrence Nwankwo indicates that Pope Francis announced the appointment on Sunday after the traditional recitation of the Regina Caeli prayer at the Vatican City, Rome.
The Catholic Bishop of Ekwulobia Diocese, the Most Reverend Peter Okpalaeke, has been appointed a Cardinal by His Holiness, Pope Francis.
A statement by the Chancellor of the Diocese, Reverend Father Lawrence Nwankwo indicates that Pope Francis announced the appointment on Sunday after the traditional recitation of the Regina Caeli prayer at the Vatican City, Rome.
Peter Ebere Okpaleke was born on March 1, 1963, in Amesi, in the Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria.
He attended local schools and in 1983 entered the Bigard Memorial Major Seminary in Ikot-Ekpene and Enugu, where he studied philosophy and theology from 1983 to 1992. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Awka on August 22, 1990.
In the 20 years following his ordination, he occupied a wide variety of pastoral and administrative positions, including university chaplain, parish priest, diocesan finance administrator, diocesan chancellor, and secretary and member of diocesan boards. He also studied canon law in Rome at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
On December 7, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Okpaleke Bishop of Ahiara, Nigeria. Okpaleke was consecrated as a bishop on 21 May 2013. Because of objections to his appointment, his consecration was held outside the Diocese, in the Major Seminary of Ulakwo in the Archdiocese of Owerri.
Local clergy and parishioners objected to his appointment and prevented him from entering the cathedral in order to take possession of the diocese. A petition objecting to the fact that Okpaleke was not of the area’s Mbaise ethnic origin was sent to Pope Benedict after he appointed Okpaleke bishop.
On 9 June 2017, Pope Francis gave clergy in the diocese 30 days to either write a letter promising obedience and accepting Okpaleke as their bishop or be suspended. Clergy sent letters of apology but continued to protest what they saw as racial discrimination. On 19 February 2018, Pope Francis accepted Okpaleke’s resignation as Bishop of Ahiara.
On 5 March 2020, just over two years after accepting his resignation as Bishop of Ahiara, Pope Francis appointed Okpaleke the Bishop of the Diocese of Ekwulobia, a newly created diocese in Anambra State which formerly had its territory under the jurisdiction of Awka Diocese. Okpaleke was installed there on 29 April 2020.