Pope Francis has announced that two African clergy will be promoted to cardinals in the Catholic Church. The two will rank among the most senior officials in the institution.
Pope Francis named Bishop Peter Okpaleke from Ekwulobia in south-east Nigeria and Bishop Richard Kuuia Baawobr from Wa in northern Ghana.
Bishop Okpaleke was ordained as a priest in the early 1990s, meanwhile Bishop Baawobr has been a priest since 1987.
They were amongst a list of 21 men whom Pope Francis announced would get the promotion.
They will be installed during a ceremony in August following the presence of 208 cardinals.
With the appointment of 16 new cardinal electors, Pope Francis continues remaking the College of Cardinals with an emphasis on the person rather than the location of the bishop.
Nowhere has that emphasis been more evident than in the United States, where he chose to elevate Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, while once again skipping over more senior bishops in traditionally cardinatial cities such as Los Angeles and Philadelphia.