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Dieudonné Nzapalainga

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His Eminence

Dieudonné Nzapalainga

C.S.Sp.
Cardinal, Archbishop of Bangui
Nzapalainga on 16 August 2014.
ChurchCatholic Church
Appointed14 May 2012
Other post(s)President of the Central African Episcopal Conference (2013–)
Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Andrea della Valle
Previous post(s)Apostolic Administrator of Bangui (2009–2012)
Orders
Ordination9 August 1998
Consecration22 July 2012
by Fernando Filoni
Created cardinal19 November 2016
by Pope Francis
RankCardinal Priest
Personal details
Born
Dieudonné Nzapalainga

(1967-03-14) 14 March 1967 (age 57)
Bangassou, Central African Republic
MottoA l'image de Dieu Il les crea
(Ad Imaginem Dei Creavit Illum)
(In the Image of God He created them)
Coat of armsDieudonné Nzapalainga's coat of arms
Ordination history of
Dieudonné Nzapalainga
History
Priestly ordination
Date9 August 1998
Episcopal consecration
Principal consecratorFernando Filoni
Co-consecratorsJude Thaddeus Okolo
Edouard Mathos
Date22 July 2012
Cardinalate
Elevated byPope Francis
Date19 November 2016
Episcopal succession
Bishops consecrated by Dieudonné Nzapalainga as principal consecrator
Zbigniew Tadeusz Kusy15 August 2014
Styles of
Reference styleHis Eminence
Spoken styleYour Eminence
Informal styleCardinal

Dieudonné Nzapalainga, CSSp (born 14 March 1967) is a Central African prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the Archbishop of Bangui since 2012, where he served as apostolic administrator from 2009 to 2012. He has been president of the Central African Episcopal Conference since 2013.

When Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2016, he became the first cardinal from the Central African Republic (CAR), the youngest member of the College of Cardinals and the first born after the Second Vatican Council.

Biography

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Dieudonné Nzapalainga was born in Mbomou in the Diocese of Bangassou on 14 March 1967,[1] the fifth of ten children born to a poor farming family,[2] his father a Catholic and his mother a Protestant.[3] After completing his secondary schooling, he studied at the Saint Louis Minor Seminary in Bangassou. the Saints Apôtres Major Philosophy Seminary in was a postulant at Otélé in Cameroon, and Daniel Brottier Spiritan Major Seminary, in Libreville, Gabon.[1] He was inspired from the age of ten to join the Spiritans by the model provided by a Dutch Spiritan missionary he knew as a boy, who mixed with the local people and taught him the priesthood was open even to boys like him from outside the urban centers.[4] He professed his initial vows as a member of the Spiritans on 8 September 1993 and made his perpetual vows on 6 September 1997. He was ordained a priest on 9 August 1998.[1]

He earned a licentiate in theology at the Jesuits' Centre Sèvres in Paris. From 1998 to 2005 he worked in Marseille as a chaplain at the Saint Francis de Sales house and at the parish of Saint Jerome.[1] He later cited his years in France as providing him with firsthand experience of the lives of the poor and inspiring his commitment to the poor.[5] From 2005 to 2009 he was regional superior for the Spiritans for its Central African region while working as a parish priest in Bangui. In 2008/2009 he was president of the Conference of Major Superiors of Central Africa.[1]

Nzapalainga became the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Bangui in 2009 following the resignation of Archbishop Paulin Pomodimo.[6]

On 14 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Archbishop of Bangui.[1] He received his episcopal consecration on 22 July 2012[7] from Cardinal Fernando Filoni and was installed on 29 July 2012.

He has been president of the Central African Episcopal Conference since 2013.[6] In that role in participated in the October 2014 Synod of Bishops on the Family.[7]

He has campaigned for international intervention in the warfare between Muslim and Christian factions in the CAR since it began in 2013, arguing that what appears as sectarian violence is rooted in political and economic time rivalries. Alongside other religious leaders[a] he was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2014 by Time magazine and awarded the 2015 Sergio Vieira de Mello Prize for Peace by the United Nations,[8] among other awards for his peace advocacy.[3] He met Pope Francis when he visited the CAR in 2015,[8][9] where the pope opened the first Holy Door of the Year of Mercy,[8]

Nzapalainga was elevated to the rank of cardinal priest at a consistory held on 19 November 2016. He was assigned the titular church of Sant'Andrea della Valle.[10] He was the first cardinal from the CAR, the first born after the Second Vatican Council and the youngest member of the College of Cardinals[7] until Giorgio Marengo became a cardinal in 2022.[11] On 28 January 2017, he was named a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.[12] He was elected moderator of one of the French-language discussion groups at the September 2018 Synod of Bishops on Youth and Vocation.[13] On 8 July 2020, he was named a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.[14]

Assessing the work of the October 2023 Synod of Bishops on Synodality, Nzapalainga praised its listening process and devoted to silence and discernment: "this climate of silence, listening and dialogue ... will allow us to move forward not under pressure but in a serene manner".[15]

On 23 October 2024, the Synod of Bishops elected him a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod.[16]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ His allies were Imam Omar Kabine Layama, president of the CAR Islamic Community, and Rev. Nicolas Guérékoyame Gbangou, president of the CAR's Evangelical Alliance.[8][9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Rinunce e Nomine, 14.05.2012" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  2. ^ Chareton, Agnès (8 June 2021). "Centrafrique : Dieudonné Nzapalainga, le courage d'un cardinal". Le Pèlerin (in French). Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b "La storia di Dieudonné Nzapalainga, il cardinale della pace". Africa Rivista (in Italian). 15 May 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2024. Nzapalainga ha ricevuto diversi riconoscimenti internazionali: l'Aachener Friedenspreis ad Aquisgrana in Germania, il Premio Vieira de Mello a Ginevra, l'Eliasson Global Leadership Award a Città del Messico e il Premio Mundo Negro a la Fraternidad a Madrid.
  4. ^ Neves, Tony (9 June 2021). "Tragedies and 'miracles' in the Central African Republic". Spiritan Roma. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  5. ^ ""My fight for peace": the story of Cardinal Nzapalainga and his love for the poor". Rome Reports. 23 October 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2024. That was the big shock. I arrived in Paris. There were many people who had their hands out, who had no food, who had dirty clothes. And I said to myself, I want to do my pastoral work with the poor.
  6. ^ a b "Fr. Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Archbishop of Bangui". Spiritans. 7 June 2012. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  7. ^ a b c "Two Spiritans Named Cardinals". The Congregation of the Holy Spirit. 11 October 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d San Martín, Inés (19 October 2016). "Now a cardinal, this African prelate was already a "saint"". Crux. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  9. ^ a b Reese, Thomas (12 December 2014). "Three wise men from Africa promote reconciliation through interreligious dialogue". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Titular churches and diaconates of the new cardinals, 19.11.2016" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. 19 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  11. ^ Povoledo, Elisabetta (29 May 2022). "Pope Francis Announces 21 New Cardinals". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Rinunce e nomine, 28.01.2017" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 28 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  13. ^ "Synod18 – 5ª Congregazione generale: Relazioni dei Circoli minori sulla prima parte dell'"Instrumentum laboris", 09.10.2018". Holy See Press Office. 9 September 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Rinunce e nomine, 08.07.2020" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  15. ^ Allen, Elise Ann (27 October 2023). "Synod members deny 'authentic divisions,' but acknowledge missing voices". Crux. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  16. ^ "Synod elects new members to Ordinary Council". Vatican News. 24 October 2024. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
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Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Archbishop of Bangui
14 May 2012 – 		Incumbent
Preceded by Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Andrea della Valle
19 November 2016 –
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