Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo was born in 1945 at Konéan, in the Kaya department of what is now Burkina Faso. He studied at the minor seminary of Pabré and the regional seminary of Koumi, and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Kaya in July 1973. After parish work he took a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, then served as vicar general of Kaya and director of its seminary.
On 5 July 1996 he was appointed Bishop of Ouahigouya, and from 2001 to 2007 he presided over the Episcopal Conference of Burkina Faso and Niger. On 13 May 2009 Benedict XVI named him Archbishop of Ouagadougou. Pope Francis created him a cardinal on 22 February 2014 — the second Burkinabé cardinal after Paul Zoungrana — with the title of Santa Maria Consolatrice al Tiburtino. From 2019 to 2023 he was president of SECAM, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. Francis accepted his resignation as archbishop on 16 October 2023.
His exact birth date is not certainly known: a date of 25 January 1945, supplied in 1973 for a missionary health-insurance scheme, was recorded by the Vatican until 2024, while Burkinabé records carry a placeholder 31 December 1945. The ambiguity briefly raised questions about his eligibility for the 2025 conclave; he was in the event included among the electors.
Major Works & Initiatives
President of SECAM
Headed the symposium of all Africa's episcopal conferences.
Archbishop of Ouagadougou
Fourteen years leading Burkina Faso's capital archdiocese.
President of the Episcopal Conference of Burkina Faso and Niger
Regional leadership of the two countries' bishops.
Controversies
On the record
No significant public controversies reported.