Major Seminary Rector Appointed Bishop of DR Congo’s Boma Diocese

From 2005-2012, Mons. Mbimbi Mbamba served in Germany’s Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart as a pastoral collaborator, Parish Vicar of Herrenberg, and Assistant of the local Italian community in the Diocese.

Prior to his appointment as the Rector of the Boma-based Major Seminary for Philosophy in 2014, the Bishop-elect had been serving as a Professor at the same institution since 2012. He has also been serving as the Episcopal Vicar for the Laity in the Diocese of Boma since 2014.

In 2012, he published the book, “The phenomenology of the religion of the young Heidegger and its significance for theology: Contribution to the critique of African religiosity.”

Reacting to the news of the appointment, members of the General Secretariat of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) have offered the Bishop-elect their “warm and sincere congratulations.” 

In their March 19 statement signed by CENCO’s Secretary General, Fr. Donatien Nshole, the members also wish Mons. Mbimbi Mbamba a “fruitful ministry in the Church-Family of God, which is in Boma.”

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Erected in February 1934 as the Vicar Apostolic of Boma, the See was elevated to the rank of a Diocese under the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kinshasa in November 1959.

In Boma Diocese that is under the patronage of Our Lady of Assumption, the Bishop-elect will be expected to offer pastoral care to an estimated 874,000 Catholics spread across 11,350 square kilometers, according to 2018 statistics.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis, on the same day, accepted the retirement of 75-year-old Bishop Dieudonné Watio from the pastoral care of Cameroon’s Diocese of Bafoussam. 

Bishop Watio had been at the helm of the Diocese since May 2011. He was overseeing the pastoral care of an estimated 313,000 Catholics spread across 13,000 square kilometers, according to 2017 statistics.

Erected in February 1970 as a jurisdiction within the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Douala, the Diocese of Bafoussam is under the patronage of St. Joseph.