LUSAKA JUNE 27, 2017(CISA)-Fr Paul Samasumo has been elected as one of the two World Catholic Association for Communication (SIGNIS) Vice Presidents for the period 2017-2021.
Commenting on his election Fr Samasumo thanked the assembly for giving him the new task.
“I am humbled and grateful to the assembly for their confidence in me and my Continent, Africa. I thank my superiors at the Pontifical Secretariat for Communication who have always given me the space to work with SIGNIS.
My candidature was actually not proposed by Africa, but once it was made, my African brothers and sisters at this Congress warmly embraced the idea,” Vatican Radio quoted Fr Samasumo as saying.
Fr Samasumo who is the head of Vatican Radio’s English and Kiswahili Service for Africa becomes the first African to hold one of the top three positions in SIGNIS.
The election of Fr Samasumo took place during the SIGNIS World Congress 2017 which was held between June 19-22 at Laval University in Canada’s Québec City themed, “Media for a Culture of Peace: Promoting Stories of Hope.”
Fr Samasumo will be the Vice president alongside Mr Lawrence John Sinniah of Malaysia.
Ms Helen Osman from USA was elected SIGNIS World President taking over from Mr Gustavo Andujar who did not seek re-election.
The three together with the Treasurer constitute SIGNIS world’s executive committee.
The African Assembly of delegates elected Nigerian priest and university professor, Fr Dr Walter Ihejirika as new SIGNIS Africa President.
SIGNIS is a Worldwide Association of Catholic Communicators representing more than 140 countries.
Its’ members are national associations grouped by regions of the world. There are six regions: Africa, Latin America, North America, Pacific, Asia, and Europe, as well as an International Group composed of international organizations.
The administrative headquarters of SIGNIS, the General Secretariat, is in Brussels with another office at the Vatican, which provides technical and material support to Church and secular organizations all over the world.
