By Paschal Norbert
BUKOBA, SEPTEMBER 30, 2025 (CISA) – The late Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa, a seasoned Vatican diplomat and Papal Nuncio, was laid to rest on September 29, 2025, at Mater Misericordiae Cathedral in Bukoba. The Funeral Mass was presided over by Protase Cardinal Rugambwa, concelebrated by the Apostolic Nuncio to Tanzania, Archbishop Angelo Accattino, alongside several bishops and hundreds of priests.
Archbishop Rugambwa was interred in the cathedral’s sacred grounds, the same resting place of Laurean Cardinal Rugambwa, Africa’s first cardinal, and Bishop Nestorius Timanywa, the third bishop of Bukoba. The solemn ceremony drew bishops, clergy, government leaders, and hundreds of faithful from across Tanzania and abroad who gathered to pay their final respects.
In his homily, Cardinal Rugambwa described the late Archbishop as “a man of prayer who served the global Church with warmth and generosity,” highlighting his humility, devotion, and decades of service to the Church and humanity. Archbishop Accattino, visibly moved, recalled Rugambwa’s recent encounter with Pope Francis in Rome shortly before his health deteriorated.
Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa died on September 16, 2025, at Gemelli Hospital in Rome after a prolonged illness.
Born on October 8, 1957, in Maruku Ward, Bukoba District, he was ordained a priest on July 6, 1986, by Bishop Timanywa. He entered the Holy See’s diplomatic service in 1991 and went on to serve in Nunciatures across Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. He later became Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People in 2007, before being appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe in 2010. Subsequent assignments took him to Honduras (2015), New Zealand and the Pacific Islands (2019), and later to Micronesia and other Pacific nations.
On September 25, the Vatican honoured him with a funeral Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, presided over by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, who praised Rugambwa’s pastoral sensitivity and described his final months as “a silent witness of faith” offered in union with Christ.
Archbishop Rugambwa is remembered as a bridge-builder, a man of diplomacy rooted in pastoral charity, and a faithful servant of the Church whose life touched communities across continents.
