Pope Leo XIV has appointed new members to the Vatican Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, including five ministering in Africa and among them Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Ruwa’ichi from Tanzania.
All of them members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL), two are Archbishops, two are Bishops, and one is a Priest at the helm of a Society of Missionaries.
In the latest appointments made public Tuesday, June 24 by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father appointed Cristóbal Cardinal López Romero of the Catholic Archdiocese of Rabat in Morocco, Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Ruwa’ichi of Tanzania’s Catholic Archdiocese of Dar-es-Salaam, and Bishop Thulani Victor Mbuyisa of South Africa’s Catholic Diocese of Kokstad.
Other Papal appointees to the Vatican Dicastery headed by Sr. Simona Brambilla are Bishop Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie, the Auxiliary Bishop of Ethiopia’s Catholic Archdiocese of Addis Ababa, and Fr. Stanley Lubungo, the Zambian-born Superior General of the Society of Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers/MAfr.).
Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Ruwa’ichi, aged 71, from Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
He was born in December 1953 in Tanzania’s Catholic Diocese of Moshi. The member of the Order of Friars Minor (OFM Cap.) was ordained a Priest in November 1981. He served as a member of the General Definitorium, the Order’s governing body.
In February 1999, Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Mbulu Diocese in Tanzania. He was elevated to Archbishop following his transfer to the country’s Archdiocese of Dodoma in January 2005.
Pope Benedict XVI transferred him to Tanzania’s Mwanza Archdiocese in November 2010. He later served as the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Shinyanga between 2013 and 2015.
In June 2018, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Ruwa’ichi as the Coadjutor Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam; he succeeded Polycarp Cardinal Pengo, when the latter retired in August 2019.
Cristóbal Cardinal López Romero, 72: Rabat in Morocco
Born in 1952 in Spain, Cardinal López Romero was ordained a Priest in the Congregation of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in 1979.
By virtue of his service in Morocco and of the good relations he developed with the Christian and Muslim religious leaders present in the North African nation, Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Rabat in 2017.
He was created Cardinal during the October 2019 Consistory.
Bishop Thulani Victor Mbuyisa, 52: Kokstad, South Africa
Born in South Africa’s Province of KwaZulu-Natal in the Archdiocese of Durban in February 1973, Bishop Mbuyisa joined the Congregation of Mariannhill Missionaries (CMM) in 1992.
He was ordained a CMM Priest in March 2000. He was appointed Local Ordinary of Kokstad in April 2022 and ordained a Bishop in June 2022.
The South African Catholic Bishop currently chairs the Justice and Peace Commission of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC).
Bishop Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie, 55: Auxiliary Bishop, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia
Born in Harar, a city in Eastern Ethiopia, Bishop Gebresilasie made his perpetual profession in the Religious Institute of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) in September 1994. He was ordained a Priest in August 1995 in Addis Ababa.
The alumnus of the Rome-based Pontifical Gregorian University, where he obtained a Licentiate in Theology, also holds a Diploma in Islamic Studies from the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Rome.
He also pursued Islamic studies at the Dar Comboni for Arabic Studies in Cairo, Egypt, and attended a formation course at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome.
Bishop Gebresilasie was elected MCCJ Superior General during the 18th General Chapter in 2015; he was re-elected during the monthlong 19th General Chapter held in June 2022 at the Institute’s General House in Rome.
Earlier, he had served as MCCJ General Councilor responsible for Basic Formation and the circumscriptions of English-speaking Africa and Mozambique following his election to the General Council during the 17th General Chapter of 2009.
In November 2024, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Ethiopia’s Catholic Archdiocese of Addis Ababa that is under the pastoral care of Berhaneyesus Demerew Cardinal Souraphiel. He was Consecrated Bishop in February 2025.
Fr. Stanley Lubungo, 58: Zambian-born Superior General of the Missionaries of Africa
Born in Zambia’s Ndola Catholic Archdiocese in June 1967, Fr. Lubungo made his Perpetual Profession as a White Father in Toulouse in December 1996 and ordained a Priest in his native country in August 1997.
He worked as a missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and after further studies in Rome and Dublin, he was appointed as a formator in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Fr. Lubungo had just completed studies in Dogmatic Theology in Paris when he was appointed Provincial of Southern Africa in July 2015.
He was elected Superior General of the White Fathers during the 2016 General Chapter; he was re-elected in 2022.