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Immaculate Heart of Mary Cleric Appointed Bishop in DR Congo

Fr. Félicien Ntambue Kasembe appointed Bishop of Kabinda Diocese in DR Congo on July 23, 2020.

By Magdalene Kahiu

Kabinda, 23 July, 2020 / 10:00 pm (ACI Africa).

A member of the Religious Order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, also called the Scheutists, has been appointed as the new Bishop of the Diocese of Kabinda in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

On Thursday, July 23, Pope Francis appointed Fr. Félicien Ntambue Kasembe to shepherd the people of God in DRC’s Kabinda Diocese, which has been vacant since October 2018 when Bishop Valentin Masengo Mkinda died at the age of 77.

The 49-year-old Bishop-elect who has been serving as one of the General Councilors of the Scheutists since 2017 is expected to become the fourth Local Ordinary of Kabinda Diocese.

Following the news of this latest episcopal appointment, members of the Episcopal Conference of the Democratic Republic of Congo (CENCO) have congratulated the Bishop-elect, wishing him a fruitful ministry, Radio Veritas Kabinda reported. 

A native of Lomami Province in DRC, Fr. Félicien was ordained a Priest in August 2001.

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He obtained a Baccalaureate in Civil Law from the Jesuit Notre Dame de la Paix Catholic University in Namur, Belgium in 2009.

He also holds a Master’s degree in Civil Law from the Catholic University of Louvain-la- Neuve and a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the Faculty of Law Saint Louis in Brussels in 2011.

In his 19 years of priesthood, the Congolese Cleric has served in various capacities including Provincial Secretary and Rector of the Scheutist Missionaries in Kinshasa; Director of the Pedagogical Research Center in Kinshasa; and Secretary of the Provincial Commission for Finance of the Scheutists, among other responsibilities.

The Bishop-elect had his missionary and pastoral internship in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mongolia.

He will be administering Kabinda Diocese that was erected as the Apostolic Vicariate of Kabinda in 1953 before Pope Pius XXIII elevated it to Kabinda Diocese in 1959. 

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Located within the Ecclesiastical Province of Kananga, the Diocese has a population of 629,520 Catholics according to 2017 statistics.

Magdalene Kahiu

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.

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