Cleric Requests Prayers for Ugandan Bishop Battling COVID-19 in Hospital

The 58-year-old Ugandan Bishop is “out of the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and currently in the general ward,” Fr. Mayanja told ACI Africa December 10, and added in reference to the Bishop, “He is improving and giving hope to everyone. He needs only prayers from us.”

The Local Ordinary of Masaka is the first Bishop known to have contracted the coronavirus in Uganda where 25,059 cases have been reported including 219 deaths and 9,510 recoveries. 

In April, the President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Phillip Cardinal Ouédraogo, tested positive for the coronavirus and later recovered. 

Bishop Stephen Mamza of Nigeria’s Yola Diocese also contracted the disease in August and recovered days later.

In the December 10 interview with ACI Africa, Fr. Mayanja said that six Priests in Uganda’s Diocese of Masaka had contracted the coronavirus in recent times and that “two of them are healed while the remaining four are still receiving treatment.”

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The Clergy of Masaka called on the people of God in the East African nation to also pray for “all those who are sick.”

He urged Ugandans to be “alert” and to observe the COVID-19 health measures that have been set by the government.

“We are in the election period and people gather in large numbers without masks and without observing the health guidelines, so I would ask them to observe the guidelines.” he said.

The Ugandan Cleric called for alertness saying if people “detect something strange in their bodies, they should seek medical advice from the responsible personnel.”

He assured Bishop Jjumba who has been at the helm of Masaka Diocese since July 2019 that members of the Clergy, Religious men and women and the Lay faithful are “with him in this trying moment.”

“As his children, we promise to always pray for him because he is our father,” Fr. Mayanja told ACI Africa December 10 in reference to Bishop Jjumba who is fighting COVID-19 at Mulago Hospital in Kampala.

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.