And then there was one..West African Bishops Unite

(04 Feb 09 - RV) The French Bishops of West Africa are holding  last meeting as a Conference in the Ivory Coat.

CERAO, the organization which brought Francophone bishops from the region together to discuss common issues, will cease to exist at the end of the meeting.  Later in the year, the English-speaking regional conference will follow suit.

The recently established Association of Episcopal Conferences of West Africa will therefore be a unified voice for the Catholic Church in the region.

Cardinal Peter Turkson of Gold Coast, Ghana, is attending the CERAO meeting, and told us why the bishops decided to end the two linguistic groupings.