{"id":24696,"date":"2026-05-16T11:20:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/?p=24696"},"modified":"2026-05-16T11:20:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:20:57","slug":"zambia-zambias-archbishop-emeritus-of-lusaka-telesphore-mpundu-dies-at-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2026\/05\/16\/zambia-zambias-archbishop-emeritus-of-lusaka-telesphore-mpundu-dies-at-79\/","title":{"rendered":"ZAMBIA: Zambia\u2019s Archbishop Emeritus of Lusaka, Telesphore Mpundu, Dies at 79"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA<\/em><\/p>\n

The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) has lost Most Reverend Telesphore George Mpundu, Emeritus Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Lusaka, who died at the age of 79, on Friday, 15th May 2026.<\/p>\n

In a statement announcing the death of the late Archbishop Emeritus, the current Archbishop of Lusaka, Most Rev. Alick Banda, said, “It is with deep sorrow that I inform the faithful, clergy, religious, and all people of goodwill of the passing of the Emeritus Archbishop.”<\/p>\n

The message was addressed to the Faithful, Clergy, and Religious of the Archdiocese and copied to the Apostolic Nuncio to Zambia and Malawi, as well as the President of the ZCCB.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Mpundu was born on 21st May 1947 at Kapatu Mission and ordained to the priesthood in 1972. He was installed as Bishop of Mbala (now Mpika) in 1987, where he served for 19 years.<\/p>\n

In 2004, he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Lusaka and succeeded formally as the Archbishop in 2006, a position he held until his retirement in 2018.<\/p>\n

According to Archbishop Banda, the late Archbishop Emeritus, \u201cWas widely respected for his strong advocacy on governance, social justice, and national affairs, courageously speaking out on matters of truth and justice.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Beyond his pastoral role, Archbishop Mpundu served multiple terms as President of ZCCB, where he cultivated a reputation for moral clarity and civic courage. His voice went far beyond the walls of the Church as he was known for challenging those in power and calling Zambia’s leaders to account on issues of public concern, earning admiration from across the religious and civil spectrum.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Banda has called on all parishes and religious communities within the Archdiocese to offer a Mass for the repose of the soul of Archbishop Mpundu. The funeral programme, he stated, will be communicated in due course.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Mpundu, in the words of his successor, is a shepherd who served the faithful “with compassion and wisdom.”<\/p>\n

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Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) has lost Most…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zambia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24698,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24696\/revisions\/24698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}