Leo XIV Promotes African Bishop Who Thanked Francis for "Updating the Gospel"

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Leo XIV Promotes African Bishop Who Thanked Francis for "Updating the Gospel"

gloria.tv | October 22, 2025

Pope Leo XIV has appointed on October 22 Bishop Alexis Touabli Youlo, 65, as Bishop of the Diocese of San Pedro-en-Côte-d’Ivoire, Ivory Coast.

Bishop Youlo was ordained a priest in 1987. In October 2006, he was appointed the first Bishop of the new diocese of Agboville.

He has served as President of the Episcopal Conference of Côte d’Ivoire and since May 2022 as President of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA). RECOWA comprises 154 Catholic Dioceses spread across 11 Catholic Bishops’ Conferences in 16 countries of Anglophone and Francophone Africa.

As President, Monsignor Youlo has repeatedly pushed synodality (“walking together”) and social priorities.

At an assembly he led in Dakar in May 2025, Bishop Youlo placed “justice and peace” and “a synodal Church in West Africa” at the heart of the meeting.

In recent years, he repeatedly organised inter-faith prayers (pictured left) and interreligious events for peace.

In November 2022, he took part in civil clothes in the 26th edition of National Peace Day in Agboville (pictured right).

In a May 5, 2022 interview with AciAfrica.org, Bishop Youlo said, “We thank God for inspiring Pope Francis to write Fratelli Tutti. I think this document is an updated version of the Gospel.”