KENYA: Bishop Mwongela Appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Machakos Diocese
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
On Sunday, January 4, Pope Leo XIV appointed the Local Ordinary of Kenya’s Kitui Diocese, Bishop Joseph Maluki Mwongela, as Coadjutor Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Machakos.
As a Coadjutor Bishops according to the Code of Canon Law, the appointment grants Bishop Mwongela “the right of succession.”
“If it appears more opportune to the Holy See, it can appoint ex officio a coadjutor bishop who also has special faculties. A coadjutor bishop possesses the right of succession,” Can. 403 §3 states.
In this case, “When the episcopal see is vacant, the coadjutor bishop immediately becomes the bishop of the diocese for which he had been appointed, provided that he has legitimately taken possession of it,” Can. 409 §1. Thus, with a Coadjutor Bishop in a Diocese, there is a seamless transition, with no period when the Diocese remains vacant.
As part of his new appointment, Bishop Mwongela will work closely with Bishop Norman King’oo Wambua, the Local Ordinary of Machakos, who is approaching retirement age at 75.
The Code of Canon Law (Can. 404 §1) says, “A coadjutor bishop takes possession of his office when he, either personally or through a proxy, has shown the apostolic letter of appointment to the diocesan bishop and college of consultors in the presence of the chancellor of the curia, who records the event.”
Bishop King’oo was first ordained a Bishop of Kenya’s Bungoma Diocese in 1998, where he served for 20 years before he was transferred to Machakos Diocese, where he has been serving since 2018. For about one year, from September 2024 to September 2025, Bishop King’oo also served as the Apostolic Administrator of Wote Diocese.
The newly appointed Coadjutor Bishop, Rt. Rev. Mwongela was ordained a priest on 7 September 1996 and later served as parish vicar, parish priest, formator at Saint Patrick Formation House, diocesan chancellor, and director of the diocesan office for vocational pastoral care.
He studied for a licentiate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas “Angelicum,” and later became the vicar general of the Diocese of Kitui before being appointed Bishop of the same Diocese on 17 March 2020.
