ROME: Special Connections that Recently Canonized St. Pope Paul VI has with AMECEA
A coin made in commemoration of Pope Paul VI's Visit to Kampala Uganda in July 1969 (Image Courtesy)
Pope Paul VI is fondly remembered as the first Pope in modern times to have traveled to Africa and to the advantage of AMECEA Region, that visit which occurred in 1969 happened in one of the AMECEA countries, Uganda. Equally important, is the fact that it was Pope Paul VI who canonized and elevated to sainthood the Uganda Martyrs on 18 October 1964.
This maiden trip of a pope to Africa was seen as an opportune occasion by the Bishops in Africa to launch a continental association of Catholic Bishops in Africa and Madagascar under the name “Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar” (SECAM). Therefore, it was during the visit of His Holiness Pope Paul VI in Kampala (Uganda) in July, 1969, that SECAM became. The Association is scheduled to celebrate its Golden Jubilee in Uganda in July, 2019.
“I felt I needed to be there. I wanted to be there for many reasons. Not only because Pope Paul VI was from my Province Brescia in Italy and many people from Brescia including Bishops from around the world who come from Brescia joined them, rather because Pope Paul VI had a special relationship with Africa,” said Rt. Rev. Giuseppe Franzelli, M.C.C.I., Bishop of Lira, Uganda, who attended the Canonization said.
“He is the one who led the Vatican Council II to completion after the sudden death of study by Pope John XXIII. His pontificate which followed the Vatican Council II opened up the Church to the world so much that it has been so meaningful to the entire world but particularly for Africa. When he came to Uganda in 1969, he said ‘You Africans, it is time now for you to be missionaries to yourselves,” recalls Bishop Franzelli.
in Namugongo during his visit (Image Courtesy)
According to Bishop Franzelli, the canonization of Pope Paul VI to sainthood means that it is time for African to fully embrace the work of evangelization by sharing this gift which they have received with others as Pope Paul VI prophetically said.
Among the AMECEA patrons, Pope Paul VI elevated to ‘Cardinal’ the Archbishop of Nairobi Most Rev. Maurice Otunga in 1973 and the Archbishop of Kampala Most Rev. Emmanuel Kiwanuka Nsubuga in 1976. He ordained to priesthood for the Diocese of Embu, John Cardinal Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi, in 1973 in Rome. Pope Paul VI is the one who appointed Medardo Joseph Cardinal Mazombwe as Bishop of Chipata, Zambia in 1970. The then Bishop Mazombwe was also the fourth chairman of AMECEA between 1979 and1985. He also appointed Gabriel Cardinal Zubeir Wako Bishop of Wau, South Sudan in 1974; he appointed Paulos Cardinal Tzadua Auxiliary Bishop of Addis Ababa Ethiopia in 1973 and in 1977 appointed him Archbishop of Addis Ababa
Among AMECEA Chairmen St. Pope Paul VI Appointed Rt. Rev. James Odongo Auxiliary Bishop of Tororo in 1964 and later Bishop of Tororo in 1968, who later became Archbishop of Tororo in 1999 was the third Chairman of AMECEA (1973-1979). He appointed Rt. Rev. Rev. Dennis Harold De Jong Bishop of Ndola, Zambia in 1975. Bishop De Jong was fifth AMECEA Chairman who served the Association between 1986-1989. St. Pope Paul VI also appointed Rt. Rev. Nicodemus Kirima Bishop of Mombasa, Kenya in February 1978, just before the end of his papacy in June the same year. Kirima later became Archbishop of Nyeri and served as the sixth AMECEA Chairman between 1989-1995.
While in Uganda Pope Paul VI ordained the following AMECEA Bishops: Emmanuel Milingo as Archbishop of Lusaka, Zambia (Milingo is no longer in Union with the Holy See). He also ordained Rt. Rev. Raphael S. Ndingi Mwana’a Nzeki, Bishop of Machakos Kenya (currently Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi); the late Rt. Rev. Emile Njeru as Auxiliary Bishop of Eldoret, Kenya; Rt. Rev. Serapio Bwemi Magambo, Titular Bishop of Muzuca in Proconsulari (currently Bishop Emeritus of Fort Portal, Uganda); Rt. Rev. John Baptist Kakubi as Bishop of Mbarara, Uganda (Emeritus); Rt. Rev. Barnabas Rugwizangonga Halem ’Imana as Bishop of Kabale, Uganda (Emeritus); Rt. Rev. Albert Edward Baharagate, Bishop of Hoima, Uganda (Emeritus).
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By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
