Bishop Joseph Francis Badji, coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Kolda, appointed on January 10, 2026, will be ordained this Saturday. The Mass for the episcopal ordination of the coadjutor bishop is scheduled to take place at Saint Benedict College in the town of Kolda.

The new bishop will be consecrated by three bishops, according to the rite of ordination. This consecration will mark Bishop Badji's entry into the universal episcopal college.

The consecrating bishops are Archbishop André Guèye of Dakar, the principal celebrant and head of the ecclesiastical province to which the Diocese of Kolda belongs. Archbishop Guèye, chosen to preside over the ordination ceremony, will first lay hands on the new bishop. He will then proclaim the prayer of consecration and present Bishop Badji with the insignia of his new office.

There is also Bishop Jean-Pierre Bassène, Bishop of Kolda, Co-consecrator.

Ordained the first bishop of Kolda on April 29, 2000, Bishop Jean-Pierre Bassène governed this diocese for twenty-six years.

He is the one who built the local church from the original six parishes, led the synod from 2019 to 2022, and guided its growth to the current fifteen parishes. His presence as co-consecrator is theologically significant: through the laying on of hands, he transmits a pastoral responsibility carried from the very beginning. He shares with

Bishop Badji, the same diocese of incardination, the same clergy of Ziguinchor.

And finally, Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, Apostolic Nuncio to Senegal and Co-consecrator, representative of the Holy See in Senegal, is the voice through which Pope Leo XIV spoke in Senegal. It was he who announced the appointment of Bishop Badji on January 10, 2026. His participation as Co-consecrator embodies the bond of communion between the Church of Kolda and the successor of Peter. The ordination is not a local event. Through the presence of the Nuncio, the universal Church is present.

The choice of consecrators carries ecclesiological and biographical significance for Bishop Badji.