KENYA: Auxiliary Bishop in Kenya’s Wote Diocese Appointed Apostolic Administrator
By Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
In a decree made public by the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen has announced that Bishop Simon Peter Kamomoe, the Auxiliary Bishop of Wote Diocese, has been appointed the Apostolic Administrator of the same See.
In the decree letter dated Thursday, September 18, the Pope’s representative emphasized the appointment in Latin phrase saying, “I wish to inform you that the Dicastery for the Evangelization of Peoples has appointed the Right Reverend Simon Peter Kamomoe, Auxiliary Bishop of Wote, as the Apostolic Administrator, ‘sede plena et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis” of the Diocese of Wote.”
According to the Nuncio’s message, Bishop Kamomoe has been appointed and given the authority to administer the diocese of Wote, which was erected in July 2023, even though Bishop Paul Kariuji Njiru, who has been at the helm of the Diocese since 2023, remains the Local Ordinary of the same See and remains officially in office.
The Latin phrase adds further that Bishop Kamomoe’s service is at the will of the Holy See.
Cognizant of the fact that Wote Diocese is not vacant, Bishop Kariuki cannot currently perform his responsibilities due to health reasons. In this case, the Nuncio’s letter reads in part that the appointment of Bishop Kamomoe grants him “all the faculties in that Diocese.”
In his letter, Archbishop van Megen underscores that the appointment of Bishop Kamomoe, “enters into force on Sunday, 21 September 2025, with the public notification of the Decree to the clergy, religious and faithful of the Diocese of Wote.”
He further asked the people of God to continue praying for the complete recovery of Bishop Kariuki, who has been unwell since last year.
As the Apostolic Administrator, Bishop Kamomoe, therefore, takes over from Bishop Norman King’oo Wambua of the Machakos Diocese, who has been overseeing Wote as Apostolic Administrator since September 2024.
