{"id":82319,"date":"2026-01-30T20:51:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=82319"},"modified":"2026-01-30T20:51:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:51:59","slug":"asagba-of-asaba-calls-for-creation-of-asaba-catholic-diocese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2026\/01\/30\/asagba-of-asaba-calls-for-creation-of-asaba-catholic-diocese\/","title":{"rendered":"Asagba of Asaba Calls for Creation of Asaba Catholic Diocese"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Samson Adeyanju\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Asagba of Asaba, His Royal Majesty Prof. Epiphany Azinge, SAN, OON, has formally called for the creation of an Asaba Catholic Diocese, citing the city\u2019s historic role in Catholic evangelisation, rapid population growth, and increasing pastoral demands.<\/p>\n<p>The monarch made the appeal on January 29, 2026, during a royal visit to the Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, Archbishop Michael Francis Crotty, accompanied by palace chiefs.<\/p>\n<p>He said the visit was both to felicitate with the Nuncio and to present the long-standing concerns of the Catholic community in Asaba.<\/p>\n<p>HRM Azinge noted that Asaba, the capital of Delta State, has experienced significant growth and now hosts 53 Catholic parishes since the establishment of the Issele-Uku Diocese in 1973, a development he said meets the canonical and practical requirements for a new diocese.<\/p>\n<p>He stressed that Asaba is the birthplace of Catholic evangelisation in Anioma land, dating back to 1888, and argued that diocesan status would recognise its pioneering role while improving pastoral care through closer episcopal oversight, faster decision-making, and enhanced supervision of parishes and priests.<\/p>\n<p>The monarch explained that an Asaba Diocese would promote focused urban evangelisation, strengthen faith formation, boost vocations, and expand the Church\u2019s contributions to education, healthcare, and social services.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the proposal reflects the collective aspiration of the Asaba Kingdom and the wider Catholic mission in the area.<\/p>\n<p>In his response, Archbishop Crotty commended the Asagba for his commitment and persistence, noting that the Church continues to consider the creation of new dioceses as communities grow.<\/p>\n<p>He described the points raised as compelling and assured that progress would be made.<\/p>\n<p>The visit ended with the presentation of a royal gift to the Apostolic Nuncio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Samson Adeyanju\u00a0 The Asagba of Asaba, His Royal Majesty Prof. Epiphany Azinge, SAN, OON, has formally called for the creation of an Asaba Catholic Diocese, citing the city\u2019s historic role in Catholic evangelisation, rapid population growth, and increasing pastoral demands. The monarch made the appeal on January 29, 2026, during a royal visit to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":82320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,1681],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-82319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-religion","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82321,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82319\/revisions\/82321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}