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At Installation, Recently Consecrated Catholic Bishop in Angola Advocates for Unity, Communion, “total availability”

Bishop Vicente Sanombo of Angola’s Catholic Diocese of Kwito-Bié
João Vissesse

By João Vissesse

Kwito-Bié, 15 July, 2024 / 8:09 pm (ACI Africa).

Bishop Vicente Sanombo, who was Consecrated Bishop of Angola’s Catholic Diocese of Kwito-Bié on June 23 is advocating for unity, communion, and availability as he begins his Episcopal Ministry in the Angolan Diocese. 

In his homily during his installation on Sunday, July 14, Bishop Sanombo said he was happy to begin his role as a shepherd of Kwito-Bié and acknowledged “with deep gratitude” the reception he had been accorded.  

“We are called to be a Church that is united and promotes unity,” he said during the Eucharistic celebration held at St. Lawrence Cathedral of Kwito-Bié Diocese.

The Angolan Catholic Bishop added, “If we are all united in our Diocese, we will be able to nurture hope for the future; we will be able to promote just aspirations for the advent of the civilization of love.”

“The Church's mission is not individual, but communal and universal,” he further said, adding that the mission of the Church “requires total availability.”

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He continued, “The Baptized person's practice and proclamation of God's love is not optional, but obligatory.”

“We are sent, like the prophet Amos, to be witnesses to the love of God, which liberates, especially that love present in the works and words of our Lord Jesus Christ. This love, we are obliged to proclaim and bear witness to among our brothers and sisters,” Bishop Sanombo further said.

He called upon the people of God under his pastoral care to promote peace, saying, “We are Kwito-Bié, the heart of Angola, the land from which the rivers are born and from which the roads leave for the various destinations of Angola. We are called to pump the blood of peace, joy, and love for all in our country.”

“We are all called to take part in the great and beautiful task of proclaiming and announcing peace and joy for all,” Bishop Sanombo said at his installation, and added, “I invite you all to be close and diligent in responding to the Lord's call to promote love.”

Born in October 1964 in Cangenge, Angola, Bishop Sanombo was ordained a Priest for Huambo Archdiocese in November 1992.

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Until his March 28 Episcopal appointment, Bishop Sanombo had been serving as Vicar General of his native Archdiocese of Huambo.

Following his July 14 installation, the Angolan Catholic Bishop shepherds the people of God in Kwito-Bié Diocese that has a population of 1,630,155 Catholics, according to 2021 statistics. 

The 73,025 square-kilometer Angolan Episcopal See was erected in September 1940 as the Diocese of Silva Porto, on territory carved out from the Diocese of São Paulo de Loanda. In May 1979, it was renamed the Catholic Diocese of Kwito-Bié.

João Vissesse

João Vissesse is an Angolan Journalist with a passion and rich experience in Catholic Church Communication and Media Apostolate. 

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