Kenya’s First Cardinal Headed to Sainthood Hailed as “a great gift to the Church”

He added, “Let us therefore pray so that the servant of God becomes Venerable. That is our invitation. That is our call. And we should be happy doing that because the servant of God, was, and is a great person. He was a great example to be followed by all people in the world.”

Cardinal Otunga’s cause for canonization started in 2009 when the then Archbishop of Nairobi, John Cardinal Njue, petitioned the Vatican-based Congregation for the Causes of Saints to approve the process.

The request was granted, allowing Cardinal Otunga to be referred to as “Servant of God”. Three years ago, various faithful who participated in the late Cardinal’s memorial Mass expressed optimism in the process of his sainthood, regarding him as probably the first Kenyan-born saint in the making.

And during Holy Mass last year marking 18 years since the Servant of God Cardinal Otunga died, Fr. Njoroge remembered the Kenyan Cardinal for his service to the people of God whom he loved “very very dearly.”

“If there was a person who loved the Church and loved it very very dearly, it was the Servant of God, Maurice Cardinal Otunga,” the Catholic Priest who was appointed Vice Postulator of the cause in December 2019 said.

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Fr. Njoroge also described the Servant of God as one who “loved the word providence”, saying, “Whatever he did was in the context of providence, that is, of the goodness of God, of the graciousness of God.”

He added, in reference to the Cardinal who started his Episcopal Ministry as Auxiliary Bishop of Kisumu in Kenya in February 1957, “I have no doubt that not long ago, a good and holy man lived among us.”

“Let us pray that the process of his beatification will be successful,” he said during the 6 September 2021 memorial Mass that was celebrated at the Holy Family Minor Basilica of the Archdiocese of Nairobi.

In his September 6 message, the Vice Postulator for the course of Cardinal Otunga’s beatification reported that the Servant of God’s journey to becoming Venerable was making good progress in Rome.

“As many people know, he is now a servant of God and the conditions that are required for the promotion to the next stage which is Venerable are being studied by the Postulator in Rome together with the congregation that deals with the making of saints,” Fr. Njoroge said, adding, “The official biography has already been written and submitted to them. The official biography is going to be included in a larger work and our postulator will be presenting that very soon.”

The Sainthood cause of the Servant of God Cardinal Otunga is in the Roman Phase, which involves the examination and verification of documents (evidence) submitted by the petitioner. 

These documents are examined by a group of theologians and reviewed by another group of experts. If the review is favorable, the documents are submitted to the Holy Father for approval and subsequent issuance of a Papal decree confirming the virtuous life of the candidate to whom he confers the title, “Venerable”.

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.