College of Cardinals

Biographical notes

[Updated: 22.02.2014]

Notice: the biographical notes are only a working instrument for the press.

Cardinal Philippe Ouedraogo Nakellentuba, metropolitan archbishop of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), was born on 25 January 1945 in Konéan, diocese of Kaya.

He attended the minor seminary of Pabré in Ouagadougou, from 1959 to 1967, and the major seminary in Koumi, in Bobo-Dioulasso.

He was ordained a priest on 14 July 1973 and incardinated in Kaya.

After ordination he served as deputy parish priest of the Cathedral of Kaya (1973-1978), after which he completed a degree in canon law at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome (1978-1982). He then held the following positions: deputy parish priest of the Cathedral (1983-1984), parish priest of the Cathedral and member of the regional ecclesiastical tribunal (1984-1991), vicar general and head of the foundation of the minor seminary (1992-1995), and rector of the minor seminary (1993-1995). From 1989 to 1996, he served as national director of the pontifical mission works, and from 1995 to 1996, as priest in the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption of Pisilla. He was also a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

On 5 July 1996 he was appointed by Blessed John Paul II as bishop of Ouahigouya (Burkina Faso) and received episcopal consecration on 23 November of the same year.

On 13 May, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as archbishop of Ouagadougou.

Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the consistory of 22 February 2014, of the Title of Santa Maria Consolatrice al Tiburtino.