FOUNDER:

Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu was born on May 10,1960 in Ntigha, Abia State, Nigeria. He was ordained a Priest of the then Catholic Diocese of Umuahia on June 17, 1984. But presently, he is a Priest of the Catholic Diocese of Aba, since the creation of the Diocese in April 2, 1990.

He obtained a licentiate degree in Sacred Scriptures from the Pontificial Biblical Institute (Biblicum) Rome, where he succesfully completed the "lectio" for the doctorate degree, before transfering to the Jesuit Faculty, Sankt Georgen, in Frankfurt, to specialize in Old Testament Textual Criticism. He later obtained a Doctorate Degree in Systematic Theology from the Pontifical Urban University Rome with the dessertation "The Birth of Systematic Theology in Contemporary Black Africa." He is also an Alumnus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, (Angelicum) Rome, where he obtained another Doctorate Degree in Cannon Law with a dessertion entitled "Canons 364 and 365, the Holy See and the State of Isreal: (An Example of the Logic of Pontifical Diplomacy)."

He was called into the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1994, after attending the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. He served as the Secretary of the Apostolic Nunciatures in Ghana, Togo and Benin, in Paraguay, in Algeria and in Tunisia. He then served as the Counsellor at the Parmanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations at Geneva. In 2006, he became the Desk Officer for Human Rights and United Nations Organisations in the Vatican Secretariat of State. In 2007 he was appointed the Head of Protocol of the Secretariat of State by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. Following his appointment as the Titular Archbishop of Aquaviva and the Apostolic Nuncio to Nicaragua on November 12, 2012, he was ordained Archbishop by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome on January 6, 2013 at the age of 52. His episcopal motto is "Solvere Calceamenta" (Take off your Shoes).

On 4 November, 2017 His Holiness Pope Francis named him Apostolic Nuncio to Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, and Apostolic Delegate to the Antilles.

His Publications include "The Birth of Systematic Theology in Contemporary Black Africa.(1994)," "The Courage to Change; Take off your Shoes(2003)," "One Faith, Many Tongues. Managing Ethnic Diversity in the Church in Nigeria (2017)", as well as numerous articles and theological reflections published both in L'Osservatore Romano and other periodicals. He speaks Igbo, English, Italian, German, Modern Hebrew, French, Spanish and Arabic languages.

Nwokeukwu Uchenna
Canada, 2018