Head of Episcopal Commission Appointed Bishop of DR Congo’s Lisala Diocese

Since ordination, Msgr. Bokal'Etumba who has been at the helm of the CENCO’s Commission since 2016 has served in various positions, among them, Vicar and Parish Priest of Sainte Angèle Parish and Director of Sainte Angèle primary school of the Archdiocese of Kinshasa.

The holder of a Doctorate in Liturgy from the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm in Rome has been serving as a referent for vocations, Seminarians and Priests of the country’s Emmanuel Community since 2010.

Since 2013, the Bishop-elect has also been offering lectures in Liturgy at the Saint John XXIII Major Theological Seminary.

From 2014-2020, he served as the Director of the formation and accompaniment of Priests in difficulty at Jean-Jacques Olier House.

In a press release issued soon after the news of the appointment, members of the General Secretariat of CENCO congratulated the Bishop-elect on his new role and wished him “a fruitful ministry in the Church-Family of God, which is in Lisala.”

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Erected in April 1919 as the Vicariate Apostolic of Nouvelle-Anvers, the Diocese changed its name to the Diocese Vicariate Apostolic of Lisala in January 1936.

The Vicariate of Lisala was elevated to the rank of a Diocese under the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Mbandaka-Bikoro in November 1959.

According to 2018 statistics, the Diocese, which is under the patronage of St. Hermes, has an estimated 1,062,000 Catholics spread across 67,674 square kilometers.