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Catholic Bishop of Machakos Diocese in Kenya Appointed Apostolic Administrator of Country’s Wote Diocese

Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru (left) and Bishop Norman King’oo Wambua (right)

Bishop Norman King’oo Wambua of the Catholic Diocese of Machakos in Kenya has been appointed as the Apostolic Administrator of the country’s Wote Diocese.

In a Thursday, September 26 statement, the Apostolic Nunciature in the East African nation appeals for prayers for the “the full and complete recovery” of the pioneer Local Ordinary of Wote Diocese, Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru.

Bishop King’oo is to extend his Episcopal Ministry in Wote Diocese effective from “Saturday, 28 September 2024, at 1.00 p.m. (Kenya time), with the public notification of the Decree to the clergy, religious and faithful of the Diocese of Wote”, the Apostolic Nunciature one-page letter indicates about the appointment that the Vatican Dicastery for the Evangelization of Peoples made.

In being appointed Apostolic Administrator “sede plena et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis” of Wote Diocese, the Vatican Dicastery has granted the Local Ordinary of Machakos Diocese “all the faculties in that (Wote) Diocese”, reporting directly to the Holy Father.

“We continue to pray for the full and complete recovery of His Lordship The Right Reverend Paul Kariuki Njiru, Bishop of Wote, and for the clergy, religious and faithful of that beloved Diocese,” the Chargé d'Affaires at Kenya’s Apostolic Nunciature, Mons. Luciano Labanca, says in the September 26 statement he issued on behalf of the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, who he says is “currently out of the country.”

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Born in 1952 in Makueni County, Bishop King’oo was ordained Priest for the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar in 1988. He was appointed the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Bungoma in June 1998 and ordained in August 1988. He was transferred to Machakos Diocese in June 2018.

Meanwhile, Bishop Kariuki, who started his Episcopal Ministry in July 2009 as the Local Ordinary of Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Embu was appointed pioneer Bishop of Wote Diocese in July 2023 and installed on 30 September 2023.

In July, the 61-year-old Catholic Church leader delegated “pastoral and administrative responsibilities” of Wote Diocese to Fr. Patrick W. Ndonga, who he said “will be the point of contact for any urgent matters that may arise”.

In the letter he addressed to “All Clergy, Religious Men & Women and Laity of the Catholic Diocese of Wote”, Bishop Kariuki announced that he was beginning his “annual leave effective immediately, July 3rd, 2024.”

“I expect to return on a date to be determined in August (2024),” he further stated, adding, “Please share this information with any clergy members who may not have received this message. I kindly ask for your understanding and cooperation during this time.”

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“Please continue to keep me in your prayers for a restful and refreshing leave,” the Kenyan Catholic Bishop, who was elected the Chairman of the Commission for Education and Religious Education (CERE) of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) said in his one-page letter dated July 3.

The Diocese of Wote was carved out from Machakos Diocese; its Cathedral was established at St. Joseph the Worker Wote Parish.

Covering the territory of Kenya’s Makueni County, the Kenyan Diocese borders various Kenyan Counties, including Machakos to the North, Kitui to the East, Taita Taveta to the South, and Kajiado to the West.

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