"Henrique Kinu-Mbumba and Joseph Kiwanuka: Pioneers of the African Episcopate" an essay by Carlo Coppola
La versione originale italiana del presente articolo di Carlo Coppola si trova sul periodico "La Fiaccola" diretto dall'avv. Paolo Scagliarini https://www.lafiaccola.it/wp/herique-kinu-mbumba-e-joseph-kiwanuka-pionieri-dellepiscopato-africano/.
«Հենրիկե Կինու-Մբումբա և Ջոզեֆ Կիվանուկա. Աֆրիկյան եպիսկոպոսության առաջամարտիկները» շարադրություն Կառլո Կոպոլայի կողմից
Even in the Conclave that will begin next May 7, for the election of the 266th successor of Saint Peter, there is talk again of a possible “Black Pope”. In the last Conclave, we came closer than ever if we consider that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio came from the ranks of the Society of Jesus, whose head or General Provost is popularly called the “Black Pope”. Jokes aside about onomastics, if the next Pope were African, he would have a long and complex continental ecclesiastical history behind him that has proceeded by progress and interruptions since the beginning of the history of Christianity. It should be remembered that the African Church of the first centuries had offered Christianity prominent figures such as Saint Augustine, Saint Cyprian and Tertullian. This process fit perfectly into a Mediterranean context, that is, the very basin in which Christianity of the first centuries spread and prospered. However, due to Islamic expansion and the decline of the Christian communities in North Africa, the church of the continent underwent a long period of marginalization. Only with the arrival of missionaries in the 15th century did evangelization resume in the south of the Sahara, but with a strongly Eurocentric and colonial approach.
In the history of the Catholic Church, the figures of Herique Kinu-Mbumba (1495–1531) and Joseph Kiwanuka (1899–1966) represent the two founding moments of the African journey towards full participation in the ecclesiastical hierarchy in the modern era. Both were the first black bishops in history, although separated by over four centuries and by radically different historical contexts. Their lives and their teachings show the long and arduous journey towards an authentic inculturation of Christianity on the African continent.
Born around 1495, Henrique Kinu-Mbumba was the son of King Afonso I (Nzinga Mbemba), one of the most famous rulers of the Kingdom of Congo. Afonso was a fervent Christian who ascended the throne after the death of João I and promoted an intense evangelization of his kingdom. Sent to Portugal to receive a Christian education, Henrique was ordained a priest and then consecrated bishop around 1518, probably with an auxiliary title (titulus honorificus) at the Portuguese court, thus becoming the first black African bishop of the modern age. His ordination, endorsed by Pope Leo X, was an unprecedented event and demonstrated an attempt to insert the Congo into a broader global Catholic vision. However, Henrique could not fully exercise his ministry due to political and cultural difficulties: his presence was viewed with suspicion by both Portuguese missionaries and the Congolese nobility. Nevertheless, his figure represents an early, albeit brief, experience of African ecclesial inculturation, until his death in 1531.
The ordination of Kinu-Mbumba is interpreted by many historians of the Church as an initial, but premature, gesture. It was only in the twentieth century, thanks to the formation of an African clergy through the Catholic missions (especially the White Fathers and the Spiritans), that the conditions for a fully African episcopate were prepared. Bishop Joseph Kiwanuka was the highest and most conscious expression of this renewed attention.
After centuries of silence, it was Joseph Kiwanuka, a Ugandan, who broke this long African episcopal absence. Born in 1899 in Buganda, he was ordained a priest in 1929 after studying in Rome at the Pontifical Urban College of Propaganda Fide, where he also obtained a doctorate in canon law. A religious of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, he was appointed bishop of Masaka in 1939 by Pope Pius XII: a historic event, as he was the first black bishop consecrated in sub-Saharan Africa in contemporary times.
Kiwanuka was a central figure in the process of decolonization of Uganda and in the construction of an autonomous African Church. He promoted education, the formation of the local clergy, and dialogue between the Christian faith and African culture. He actively participated in the Second Vatican Council, where he supported the use of African languages in the liturgy and the need for a contextual African theology. He died in 1966, leaving the African Church stronger and more aware of its identity.
Today, the African Church is one of the most vital in the Catholic world. It has over 600 black bishops and millions of faithful. This development is the result of a long journey courageously begun by figures such as Henrique Kinu-Mbumba and Joseph Kiwanuka. Their lives remind us that the universality of the Church is achieved only when all cultures can fully participate in its spiritual guidance.
For the first cardinal, however, we will have to wait for the Consistory of Pope John XXIII in 1960. The name is that of Laurean Rugambwa, originally from Tanzania, who promoted a Church deeply rooted in African culture, supporting intercultural dialogue and the integration of traditional African values with the Christian message. He actively participated in the Second Vatican Council, working for ecclesial renewal and social justice. He was also archbishop of Dar es Salaam and contributed to the formation of the local clergy and the development of educational and health works. His work certainly marked a turning point for the African presence in the universal Church.
