Philippe Ouédraogo (cardinal)

Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo (born 31 December 1945) is a Burkinabè retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Ouagadougou from 2009 to 2023. He has been a cardinal since 2014. He was previously Bishop of Ouahigouya from 1996 to 2009.

Biography
He was born on 31 December 1945 in Konéan in Kaya Department. He studied at the Petit Séminaire de Pabré in Ouagadougou from 1959 to 1967 and then at the Grand Séminaire Régional de Koumi in Bobo-Dioulasso from 1967 to 1973.

He was ordained a priest of the diocese of Kaya on 4 July 1973. After serving for five years as vicar of the cathedral parish, he studied at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome from 1979 to 1983, earning a doctorate in canon law. He returned to Kaya and from 1983 to 1996 he performed parish work while serving at the same time as vicar general of the Kaya Diocese and director of its seminary.

He was appointed bishop of Ouahigouya on 5 July 1996 and consecrated on 23 November 1996 by Jean-Marie Untaani Compaoré, Archbishop of Ouagadougou.

Pope Benedict XVI named him archbishop of Ouagadougou on 13 May 2009.

He was president of the Episcopal Conference of Burkina Faso and Niger from 2001 to 2007.

Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 22 February 2014 and assigned to him the titular church of Santa Maria Consolatrice al Tiburtino. He was the second cardinal from Burkina Faso, following Paul Zoungrana (1917–2000).

He was named a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for Inter Religious Dialogue on 22 May 2014 and of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on 28 October 2016.

He received a papal appointment to participate in the Synod on the Family in October 2014 and October 2015.

In July 2019 he was elected president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).

Ouedraogo was diagnosed with COVID-19 on 30 March 2020, but has recovered from the virus since.

Pope Francis accepted his resignation as archbishop on 16 October 2023.