Historic! Pope Francis installs two Ghanaian Women into the Ministry of Catechist and Lectors

Two Ghanaian women have been installed by Pope Francis into different ministries.

In a ceremony presided over by Pope Francis on Sunday, January 23, 2022, the two Ghanaian women were installed in the Ministry of Catechists and Lectors.

Mrs Ellen Bosso, a faithful of the Ho Diocese from Peki, was installed a lector while Madam Cecilia Agyeman Anane, of the Kumasi Archdiocese, was conferred as a catechist.

The two were among eight (8) from around the world who were ushered into the new Ministry by the Holy Father during Mass.

The two Ghanaians were chosen based on a recommendation by their respective Bishops through the Chaplain of the Ghanaian Catholic Community in Rome.

Pope Francis delivered the Bible in their native languages to the Lectors and the Cross to the Catechists.

This is the first time the Church is installing female catechists.

Pope Francis installed women and men from all over the world as catechists and lectors, breaking with church law that had previously reserved those ministries to men, despite the fact that women have performed those functions in many parts of the Catholic world without the formal designation for decades.

Candidates for the conferment were from Peru, Brazil, Ghana, Poland, and Spain, Poland and Spain.

The pope utilized a revised rite for formally installing lectors, a ministry he opened to women a year earlier, and a new rite for the ministry of the catechist, which he established in May, during the church’s observance of Sunday of the Word of God.

Photo Credit: Bishop Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD via Facebook