The "St Joseph" province was canonically erected by the Rector Major on 3 March 2021, and Fr Soro will be its first Provincial. Half the size of its twin sister AON, the new AOS Province will however be characterized by greater complexity and variety of Salesian communities in the West African sub-region, with 20 communities to begin with, of which 3 in Ivory Coast and 6 in Togo for the two Francophone countries; and on the English-speaking side, 3 communities in Sierra Leone, 3 in Liberia, and 5 in Ghana, including the seat of the Province in Ashaiman (Accra). The AOS province is officially indicated as the reference province for 175 confreres, including those on mission ad gentes. They will probably be joined by half a dozen confreres radically affiliated with both the ANN and the AON.
Fr Soro was born on 16 May 1972 in the diocese of Korogho, Ivory Coast. He is the son of Philippe Oualehe and Cécile Silue Tailiga. He made his novitiate in the Maison Don Bosco (Togo) and made his first religious profession on 16 August 1993 in Lomé, his perpetual profession on 10 July 1999 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where he spent four years of theological formation. He was ordained a deacon in Yaoundé on 10 June 2001 and on 25 January 2003, he was ordained a priest in Sikasso, Mali. After the years of formation in Togo, Benin, Cameroon and Mali, Fr Soro was appointed in-charge person (Sikasso, Zogbo), Principal of a formation center (Lomé, and Zogbo), pastor (Abidjan and Bobo-Dioulasso) and three times Rector (Abidjan, Bobo-Dioulasso, Sikasso).
At the provincial level, Fr Soro was part of the social communication team from 2006 to 2010, then he was responsible for coordinating the parishes from 2010 to 2012, after which he was appointed provincial councilor from 12 June 2013 until this current appointment. On 20 April 2016, he was appointed Provincial Delegate for the Senegal-Mali-Guinea Conakry Delegation, a responsibility which was renewed on 4 June 2019 for a second three-year term. Since 2018, Fr Soro has also been a member of the Youth Ministry Commission, and in particular responsible for the Coordination of Schools, and in this capacity, Provincial Representative at Don Bosco Tech Africa.
Fr Soro has a degree in Theology and one in Philosophy. He speaks Senufo, English, and French.
