Indian papal envoy to Ivory Coast Archbishop Ambrose Madtha Dies in accident

Indian papal envoy to Ivory Coast Archbishop Ambrose Madtha Dies in accident

Mangalore Today News Network

Ivory Coast, Dec 9, 2012: The papal envoy to Ivory Coast, Indian Archbishop Ambrose Madtha, has been killed in a traffic accident in the west of the country, the Ivorian church announced. Madtha was travelling back from the northwestern town of Odienne to an ordination ceremony in the country’s west on Saturday evening when his car collided with another vehicle.

Archbishop Ambrose Madtha, belonging to the clergy of Lucknow, was born on 2nd November 1955, at Belthangady, near Mangalore, Karnataka. Msgr. Madtha is the son of late Joseph Madtha and Mary Madtha and brother of Fr. Henry Madtha, Rev. Sr. Therese Madtha SCB, and Rev. Sr. Bridget Madtha, FMM.

He completed his B.Ed in Lucknow University, MA in Economics from Nagpur University, Philosphy and Theology Courses from St. Charles’ Seminary Nagpur. Msgr. Madtha received his Doctorate in Canon Law from Urban University in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1982 in the Diocese of Lucknow.

"Unfortunately the apostolic nuncio died on the spot," said Mathieu Tehan, spokesman for the western diocese of Man where the ceremony was to take place. President Alassane Ouattara, in a statement read on national television, expressed his "deep regret" at the death and sent condolences to the church and Madtha’s family.