Aid to the Church in Need (Malta) congratulates Maltese Priest of the Missionary Society of St. Paul (MSSP), Rev. Fr. Giovanni Cefai who has been appointed by Pope Francis as the first Bishop Prelate of the Territorial Prelatures of Santiago Apóstol de Huancané (Peru) comprising 22 districts and 170,000 Catholics.
This appointment followed the erection of the territorial prelature of Santiago Apóstol de Huancané (Peru) to a suffragan of the archdiocese of Arequipa.
Rev. Fr. Giovanni Cefai, MSSP, was born on 5 August 1967 in Zebbug, diocese of Gozo, Malta and as a Priest served as Director of the De Piro Youth Center in Malta from 1997 to1999 after which he worked in the Pastoral Center of Malta for one year. In preparation for his mission to Peru, Fr. Cefai attended courses in cultural and linguistic preparation for the mission (2001) and arriving in Peru, worked as pastor of the Parish of Santa Cruz , in the archdiocese of Arequipa (2002-2013).
At the moment, Fr. Cefai serves as parish priest of the parish of San Pablo Apóstol in Arequipa and Regional Superior of the Missionary Society of St. Paul in Peru.
The Missionary Society of St. Paul was founded in Malta by the Servant of God, Mons. Giuseppe DePiro in 1910 with a missionary charism. According to its Constitutions, “the purpose of the Society is the evangelisation and the implanting of the Church in missionary lands known as mission Ad Gentes. The Society has therefore expanded to Australia, Perù, Cuba, Pakistan, Canada and the Philippines.