Raphaël Marie Ze (4 November 1932, in Alangana – 6 September 2011, in

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the Capital city, capital city of Cameroon. It has a population of more than 2.8 million which makes it the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region (Cameroon), Centre Region o ...

) was the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

bishop of the

Diocese of Sangmélima In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. Ordained to the priesthood in 1962, Ze became bishop of the Sangmélima in 1997 and retired in 2008.

Career

Ze was ordained as a priest on 29 April 1962. In May 1991 he was appointed Bishop of the diocese of Ebolowa-Kribi covering the departments of

Mvila Mvila is a department of South Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 8697 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 179,429. The capital of the department lies at Ebolowa. Subdivisions The department is divided administ ...

and Ntem Valley. The next year, he was appointed Bishop of Sangmélima, Cameroon, with the ordination taking place on 25 April 1992. Under his leadership, the Diocese of Sangmélima increased the number of parishes from 12 to 21, divided into four pastoral areas:

Akon Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

Djoum Djoum is a town in South Region, Cameroon. History The first inhabitants of modern-day Djoum were the Baka peoples. The rural municipality was formed in 1952. The town was later divided in 1995 in three entities to form municipalities of Mi ...

, Nkol-Ekong and Ndene. Ze was also Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Kribi-Ebolowa from 15 March 2002 to October 2004. He retired as Bishop on 4 December 2008.

Notes

20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Cameroon 1932 births 2011 deaths 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Cameroon Roman Catholic bishops of Sangmélima {{cameroon-bio-stub