Roman Catholic Diocese of Ahiara


The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ahiara is a diocese located in Ahiara in the region of Mbaise in Imo State in the ecclesiastical province of Owerri in Nigeria.

History

Between 2012 and 2018, the clergy and laity of the diocese had refused to accept the bishop appointed as their ordinary, Peter Ebere Okpaleke, because he is not of the Mbaise ethnic group or chosen from among the local priests.
On 3 July 2013, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja, was appointed Apostolic Administrator.
On 8 June 2017, Pope Francis, having received a delegation from the Diocese, gave all members of the diocesan clergy 30 days to personally write to the Vatican pledging obedience to the Pope and accepting Bishop Okpaleke. Those who failed to write would be suspended a divinis, and would be removed from their posts. He had considered suppressing the diocese, but decided against that idea.
On 8 July, it was reported that while the letter of apology was sent, the appointment of Bishop Okpalaeke was still rejected by the local priests who insisted that the Vatican was enforcing racial discrimination in the country by hiring outsider priests to become Bishops.
On 22 July 2017 Pope Francis agreed to respond through emissaries to the individual priests protesting Bishop Okpaleke's appointment. Two days later, Barr Chizoba Nnagboh, chairman of the Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria, described the words and actions of the dissenting clergy to be scandalous and disgraceful.
On 14 February 2018, Bishop Okpaleke submitted his resignation in a letter to Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, and Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria. He said: "I do not think that my apostolate in a diocese where a group of priests and lay faithful are very ill disposed to have me in their midst would be effective." On 19 February 2018, Pope Francis accepted Okpaleke's resignation. On 5 March 2020, however, Pope Francis appointed Okpaleke as Bishop of the newly created Roman Catholic Diocese of Ekwulobia. Okpaleke was installed as Bishop of Ekwulobia on 29 April.