Prof. Michael Ogunu, President and Coordinator of the World Apostolate of Fatima in Africa has been elected as the International President of the World Apostolate of Fatima. Ogunu was elected as the World Leader of the World Apostolate of Fatima during the General Assembly (International Conference) of the World Apostolate of Fatima held at Fatima in Portugal from October 23 to 29, 2022. The conference was attended by 105 official delegates and observers from countries all over the world, including England, USA, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Czech, India and the Philippines, among others where the election was conducted to elect officers and five Trustees for the International Board of Trustees of the Apostolate. Asked what his immediate challenges are as the new International President of the World Apostolate of Fatima, Ogunu replied that his immediate preoccupation is to promote throughout the world the entire message of Our Lady of Fatima which includes daily recitation of the Rosary, penance, sacrifice, consecration and reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, especially the First Saturdays Devotion of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as requested by our Lord Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother.
Ogunu who is also the National President of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites in Nigeria joined the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima now known as the World Apostolate of Fatima in England in 1975 while studying for his Master’s Degree in Educational Administration. On his return to Nigeria in 1976, he joined the World Apostolate of Fatima in Nigeria and was elected National Publicity Secretary of the society and served in that capacity for 12 years until he was elected National President of the society in 2003 and served in that position for 9 years. During the General Assembly of the World Apostolate of Fatima held in Fatima in 2016, he was elected a member of the International Board of Trustees of the Apostolate and later appointed as the President and Coordinator of the World Apostolate of Fatima in Africa by the former International President of the Apostolate. His election as the new International President of the World Apostolate of Fatima is a landmark in the history of the Apostolate. The World Apostolate of Fatima formerly known as the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima (founded by Monsignor Harold Colgan in 1947) is an International Public Association of the Faithful of Pontifical Right, established by the Holy See on October 7, 2005 and permanently approved on October 7, 2010.
It is a movement of the Catholic Church with millions of members around the world who follow the requests made by the Blessed Virgin Mary to the three children of Fatima in 1917. Its purpose is the glory of God and the reign of Christ through personal fulfilment and through diffusion of the message brought to the world by Our Lady of Fatima as the Catholic Church recognises and encourages it; an evangelical message of faith, of conversion, of prayer for unity and peace (Pope Paul VI, May 12, 1967). The message calls for daily recitation of the Rosary for world peace, prayers and sacrifices for sinners and reparation to the Eucharistic Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, through the devotion of the Five First Saturdays of the month. The members of the World Apostolate of Fatima are invested with the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and wear it always as sign of their personal consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Prof. Michael Ogunu is a regular writer for the Catholic Herald weekly newspaper on spirituality with large followership.
