His Eminence

Jean-Pierre Kutwa
Cardinal
Archbishop of Abidjan
Cardinal Kutwa.
ArchdioceseAbidjan
SeeAbidjan
Appointed2 May 2006
Installed18 June 2006
PredecessorBernard Agré
Other post(s)Cardinal-Priest of Santa Emerenziana a Tor Fiorenza
Orders
Ordination11 July 1971
by Bernard Yago
Consecration16 September 2001
by Bernard Agré
Created cardinal22 February 2014
by Pope Francis
RankCardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born (1945-12-22) 22 December 1945
Blockhauss, Ivory Coast
NationalityIvorian
DenominationRoman Catholic
Previous post(s)Archbishop of Gagnoa (2001-2006)
Motto"Sinite parvulos venire ad me" (Let the little children come to me)
Coat of armsJean-Pierre Kutwa's coat of arms
Ordination history of
Jean-Pierre Kutwa
History
Priestly ordination
Date11 July 1971
Episcopal consecration
Principal consecratorBernard Agre
Co-consecratorsLaurent Akran Mandjo
Barthelemy Djabla
Date16 September 2001
Cardinalate
Elevated byPope Francis
Date22 February 2014
Styles of
Jean-Pierre Kutwa
Reference styleHis Eminence
Spoken styleYour Eminence
Informal styleCardinal

Jean-Pierre Kutwa (born 22 December 1945) is an Ivorian prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as Archbishop of Abidjan since 2006. Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2014.

Biography

Kutwa was born on 22 December 1945 in Blockhauss (Abidjan). He had initial studies the school St Jean-Bosco, Treichville, in 1950; on 18 September 1955, he entered the "Petit-Clerc", Bingerville in class of CMI; in 1957, he entered the Minor Seminary in Bingerville, where he completed his secondary studies.

Education

On 2 October 1964, he entered the Grand Seminary of Anyama, where he studied philosophy and theology; on 22 December 1967, he received the cassock and the ecclesiastical tonsure; he received the diaconate on 20 December 1970, from Archbishop Bernard Yago of Abidjan, in the church of Notre Dame du Perpétuel Secours in Treichville; also, he studied at the Catholic Institute of Occidental Africa (I.C.A.O.), where he obtained a maîtrise in Biblical theology; and at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome, where he earned a doctorate in Biblical theology.

Priesthood and Episcopate

He was ordained a priest on 11 July 1971 by Cardinal Bernard Yago. Pope John-Paul II named him archbishop of the archdiocese of Gagnoa on 15 May 2001. He was consecrated bishop on 16 September by Cardinal Bernard Agré, Archbishop of Abidjan.

He took part in the Synod of Bishops that met at the Vatican in October 2005 as a delegate of the bishops of the Ivory Coast.[1]

In May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI transferred him to the metropolitan see of Abidjan to succeed the retiring Cardinal Agré.

Following the violence in the Ivory Coast that followed the November 2010 elections and ended in April 2011, he called for reconciliation: "Yes, the Ivory Coast must be a land of friendship and brotherhood, from the North or from the South, black or white, from here or elsewhere."[2] In January 2012, speaking on behalf of the National Forum of Religious Groups, he called for Alassane Ouattara, President of the Ivory Coast and a Muslim, to release political prisoners, supporters of his defeated rival for the presidency, in order to facilitate the process of national reconciliation.[3]

Kutwa is the president of the bishops commission for ecumenism as well as vice-president of the Regional Episcopal Conference of Francophone West Africa.

Cardinal

On 12 January 2014, Pope Francis announced that he would name Kutwa a cardinal at the papal consistory scheduled for 22 February 2014, along with 18 others.[4] He was created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Emerenziana a Tor Fiorenza in February 2014.

In September 2014, he was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Pontifical Council for Laity, and Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Kutwa is also a composer.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Bernardelli, Giorgio (13 January 2014). "Meet the Church's two new cardinals from West Africa". Vatican Insider. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "L'archevêque d'Abidjan appelle les Ivoiriens à la Réconciliation". Jeune Afrique. 24 April 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "Processus de réconciliation nationale: Monseigneur Jean-Pierre Kutwa demande la libération des prisonniers politiques". Abidjan Net. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  4. ↑ McElwee, Joshua L. (12 January 2014). "Pope chooses new cardinals from Africa, Asia, Latin America". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
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