NOVEMBER 14, 2025 (CISA) – The Holy Father has appointed Fr. John Kwamevi Cudjoe, S.V.D., as Auxiliary Bishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Guayaquil in Ecuador. The announcement was made by the Holy See Press Office on November 11, 2025.

Fr. Cudjoe, who has been serving as parish priest of María Madre de la Iglesia in Huasquillas, has also been assigned the titular see of Calama.

Bishop-elect Cudjoe was born on December 27, 1975, in Accra, Ghana, within the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Accra. He was ordained a priest on July 30, 2005, as a member of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD).

Throughout his ministry, he has served in various pastoral, academic, and administrative roles. His previous assignments include parish vicar; spiritual director and professor at the Major Seminary of Guayaquil; vice provincial and member of the formation team for the Missionaries of the Divine Word; chaplain of the Saint John Paul II Centre in Guayaquil; and parish priest in several Guayaquil parishes.

He also served as Provincial Superior for Ecuador from 2017 to 2023. Until his appointment as bishop, he was the parish priest of Madre María de la Iglesia in Huasquillas, in the Catholic Diocese of Machala.

African clergy continue to play an increasingly visible role in the global Catholic mission. Bishop-elect Cudjoe joins a growing number of African priests serving in the diaspora, both as missionaries and as priests incardinated into dioceses abroad, who have taken on significant leadership responsibilities. Among them is Bishop Simon Peter Engurait, a Ugandan-born American prelate who currently serves as Bishop of Houma-Thibodaux. Together, they represent a widening presence of African clergy contributing to pastoral leadership, evangelization, and the strengthening of diverse Catholic communities around the world.