The Angolan member of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) emphasized the need for the Bishop-elect to prioritize service in his Episcopal Ministry, saying, “the episcopate is a service and not an honor; so, it should be distinguished more by the service rendered than by the honors received.”
“Be a loving father and a shepherd; take care of those whom God has entrusted to you, especially the Priests and Deacons, your collaborators in the service of Christ, as well as Religious men and women, and all lay men and women who give themselves to the cause of evangelization,” he said.
The Local Ordinary of Huambo called upon the Bishop-elect to make the Lord's flock grow by bringing the lost sheep to the fold.
“You must work tirelessly for those who do not yet belong to Christ's flock, as if they had been given to you by Christ Himself,” Archbishop Zeca said.
He went on to call upon members of the Clergy to “welcome with faith, a sense of the Church, evangelical and missionary love, the new shepherd, your father in faith, for it is he, whom Christ sends you as shepherd, and the Holy Father, Pope Francis, in his apostolic solicitude, has confirmed and placed at the head of his flock, of which you are a part.”
The Episcopal Ministry is difficult to accomplish without the help of the faithful, the Catholic Archbishop of Huambo said, and appealed, “We must pray that the mandate of the youngest Bishop of our Episcopal conference will be increasingly blessed.”
Until his March 28 Episcopal appointment, Bishop Sanombo had been serving as Vicar General of his native Archdiocese of Huambo. Born in October 1964 in Cangenge, Angola, Bishop Sanombo was ordained a Priest for Huambo Archdiocese in November 1992.
In his address during the June 23 celebration, the President of the Bishops' Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST), Archbishop José Manuel Imbamba, welcomed the new Bishop of Kwito-Bié, saying he is “now part of the Episcopal College, a space for sharing, communion, participation, mission, solidarity, dialogue and humility in the diversity of gifts.”
Archbishop Imbamba thanked the Holy Father for his apostolic concern in favor of the people of God of Kwito-Bié Diocese, whose waiting for a Local Ordinary has ended.
“A new page is opening for the Church of Kwito-Bié, which is why I ask that the new pastor be welcomed with fervor, charity, and the spirit of the Church so that with him they can continue to build the Church of Christ,” the Local Ordinary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Saurimo in Angola said.
