Kenya’s Declaration of 2015 Papal Mass Site as National Monument Honor to Church: Bishops

The members of KCCB have welcomed the gazettement of the building located at the University of Nairobi (UoN) as a national monument, he further said.

The gazettement “also strengthens the appreciation that the government of Kenya has towards the Catholic Church,” the Kenyan Priest said in reference to the Papal Dias used during the 26 November 2015 Papal public Holy Mass that was designed and constructed by Tectura International. 

In the May 2 interview with ACI Africa, Fr. Lugonzo further said, “With such structures being gazetted as national monuments, then it is another way to show the high regard for the Catholic Church and the work it does.” 

The member of the Clergy of Kenya’s Kakamega Diocese added, “There are not many of those monuments and so it is a great honor for the Catholic Church in Kenya.”

“Now that this milestone has been achieved,” the General Secretary of KCCB said, “Our hope is that its protection also ensures that spiritual value.”

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“There is every reason for very deliberate efforts to protect it as a spiritual monument with the value that it has,” he said, adding that there is need for “concerted efforts” from the Kenyan government, the Church and the leadership of the UoN to care for the site. 

He continued, “It is very important to give the place some attention so that it is not gazetted as a national monument and then left without very clear strategies of how to conserve it and preserve it.”

In the April 30 Kenya Gazette notice, the CS for Sports, Heritage and Culture called on those with any objections to the declaration to lodge complaints with her office “within sixty (60) days from the publication of this notice.”

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.