NIGERIA: Pope Appoints Bishop Matthew Ishaya Audu to Archdiocese of Jos

JOS, JANUARY 7, 2020 (CISA)-Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Matthew Ishaya Audu, the new Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Jos, Nigeria.

Before the January 6 appointment, he was Bishop of the Catholic diocese of Lafia.  He  was born on June 7, 1959, in Tudu Uku, in the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi.

After attending the St James Minor Seminary in Keffi, he completed his philosophical and theological studies at the St Augustine Major Seminary in Jos. He was ordained a priest on June 23, 1984, for the Catholic diocese of Makurdi.

After ordination he held the following positions: Deputy parish priest in Keffi (1984-86); Deputy parish priest in Lafia (1986-88); Parish priest of Nasarawa (1988-89); studies in Moral Theology in Rome at the Institute of Moral Theology of the Pontifical Lateran University, Licentiate (1989-91); Professor of Moral Theology and Vice-Rector of the Major Seminary of St Thomas Aquinas, Makurdi (1992-97); in Rome, for the Degree in Moral Theology at the Alfonsianum (1997-99). From June to December 2000, with the departure of the Rector of the Seminary for a sabbatical year, he was Acting Rector of the Major Seminary of St Thomas Aquinas, Makurdi.

He was appointed Bishop of Lafia on December 5, 2000, and was installed on March 31, 2001.