PANAJI
On 30 November 2024, Professor Neri Gustavo Agapito Picardo, MD, Ph.D., was conferred the title of Papal Knight of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Francis. The investiture ceremony took place at a solemn Mass at the Holy Ghost Cathedral in Enugu, Nigeria.
Born in Mombasa, Kenya, in 1949 to Goan parents, Neri is the son of the late John Picardo from Divar and Maria Conceicao Cassia da Vitoria Picardo from St Estevam. He received his primary and secondary education at Sacred Heart School (formerly Goan School) and later completed his GCE Advanced Level at Strathmore College in Nairobi. His medical studies were undertaken at the University of Navarra in Spain, where he graduated cum laude. Neri further enhanced his expertise with a fellowship in Gastroenterology at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York.
In 1981, Neri moved to Nigeria at the request of the Nigerian Federal Government, where he served as a Consultant Physician at Parklane General Hospital in Enugu. He later became the Head of the Department of Medicine and Head of the Gastroenterology/Endoscopy Unit at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital. He was the first Medical Director of the Niger Foundation Hospital and continues to serve as a member of its management team.
Neri, a devout member of Opus Dei, has lived in Nigeria for decades, earning deep respect from the local community. He is also a Professor of Internal Medicine at Ebonyi State University and continues to serve as a physician to Bishop Callistus Onaga.
The Nigerian Medical Association, Enugu State, praised Neri for his unwavering faith, dedication to medicine, and service to society, calling his Papal Knighthood a well-deserved recognition of his lifelong commitment to both his profession and the Church.
