Creation of two Spiritan Cardinals

CREATION OF TWO SPIRITAN CARDINALS

 On Sunday 9^th October, Pope Francis announced the creation of 17 new Cardinals among whom are two members of the Spiritan Order (Holy Ghost Fathers):

►Mons. Maurice Piat C.S.Sp., Archbishop of Port-Louis, Mauritius.

Mons. Maurice Piat was born in Moka, in the Diocese of Port-Louis, on 19^th July, 1941. he entered the novitiate of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit in Ireland, where he made his first religious profession on 8^th September, 1962. He was ordained to the priesthood on 2^nd August, 1970.

Returning to Mauritius in 1979, in 1986, he was appointed parish priest of the Coeur-Immaculé-de-Marie parish in Rivière-du-Rempart.

On 21^st January, 1991, he was appointed as Coadjutor to the then Archbishop of Port-Louis, Cardinal Jean Margéot and was ordained Bishop on 19^th May of the same year.

On 15^th March 1993, he was appointed Archbishop of the Diocese of Port-Louis.

He was President of the Episcopal Conference of the Indian Ocean (C.E.D.O.I) from 1996-2002, and again from 2013 until September of this year (2016).

In October 2015, he participated in the Synod of Bishops on the Family.

 ►Mons. Dieudonné Nzapalainga C.S.Sp., Archbishop of Bangui (Central African Republic)

He was born on 14^th March, 1967 in Mbomou, in the Diocese of Bangassou, Central African Republic.  He took his first vows in the Congregation of the Holy Spirit on 8^th September, 1993, and his final vows on 6^th September, 1997. He was ordained to the priesthood on 9^th August, 1998.

In 2009, he was appointed as Apostolic Administrator of Bangui, and on 14^th May, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangui. He received his episcopal consecration on 22^nd July of the same year.

In 2013, being personally committed to the peace process in his country, together with the President of the Islamic Council and the President of the Evangelical Alliance, he participated in the foundation of an inter-religious platform in Bangui for peace in the Central African Republic.

Mons. Dieudonné is the first Cardinal in the Central African Republic.