Comboni Superior in Mozambique Appointed Auxiliary Bishop for Beira Archdiocese

Beira, 13 December, 2022 / 9:00 PM

Pope Francis has appointed the Provincial Superior of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) in Mozambique as the Auxiliary Bishop for the country’s Beira Archdiocese.

The appointment of Mons. António Manuel Bogaio Constantino, who has been assigned the Titular See of Sutunurca, was published by the Holy See Press Office on Tuesday, December 13.

Mons. Bogaio who has been serving as Provincial Superior of MCCJ in Mozambique since 2016 was born in November 1969 in country’s the Diocese of Tete.

He made his first Religious profession in MCCJ Congregation on 10 November 1997, and his perpetual vows in May 2000 in Rome; he was ordained a Priest in June 2001.

The Mozambican Bishop-elect holds a Baccalaureate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He completed a degree in journalism in Madrid, Spain, in 2007.

As a Priest, Mons. Bogaio has served in various capacities including Parish Priest, collaborator on the journal Mundo Negro; editor of the journal Vida Nova and collaborator at the Catechistic Centre of Anchio.

He is also the chair of the Conference of Religious in Mozambique, and works at the Instituto Superior Maria Mãe de África and in the Commission for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life of the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (CEM).

Once ordained a Bishop, Mons. Bogaio is expected to assist 64-year-old Archbishop Claudio Dalla Zuanna in shepherding the people of God in the 78,018 square kilometer Metropolitan Archdiocese with an estimated population of 1,014,380 Catholics, according to 2020 statistics. 

Established in September 1940 as Diocese of Beira from the Territorial Prelature of Mozambique, the Episcopal See was elevated to a Metropolitan in June 1984. Its Ecclesiastical province comprises three Suffragan sees: Chimoio, Quelimane, and Tete.