By Paschal Norbert
WOTE, JUNE 27, 2023 (CISA)- Most Rev. Hubertus Maria van Megen, the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya and South Sudan has intimated the erection of a new diocese in Kenya to be excised from the larger Catholic Diocese of Machakos.
In a speech after presiding over the priestly and diaconate ordination of five priests and seven deacons at St. Joseph the Worker, Makueni Parish on June 24, 2023, in Wote, Makueni County, the papal representative said he will present a report to the Holy Father of what he has ‘seen’ in Makueni.
“In a few months, maybe in October or November, I will be back in Rome and I will have my usual audience with the Holy Father because I have to give a report. I will also report about this visit to Makueni. And I have mentioned it many times but it is a beautiful story because it is true,” said the nuncio.
To calm an already anxious congregation that was looking forward to an announcement of a new diocese, the nuncio said that the pope is aware of the developments in the diocese and is in constant reflection of the growth of faith in the diocese of Machakos.
“You know that the Holy Father always has this little heap of papers on his desk and he takes it and then he writes on that sheet of paper, he writes Makueni and then he puts that in his breviary, in his Bible and then when he goes to pray, he opens his Bible or his breviary and there is that little name again Makueni and just by reading it he will pray for you, that’s the way our Holy Father is. He is a man who loves his Church, who loves his children all over the world because he is the father of all of us,” stated Archbishop van Megen.
On his part, Bishop Norman King’oo Wambua, the local ordinary of Machakos implored the papal diplomat to tell the pope of the growth of the diocese as he has witnessed in the palpable joy of the faithful gathered for the ordination celebrations.
The Catholic Diocese of Machakos was erected on May 29, 1969, from the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi. The diocese covers the counties of Machakos and Makueni and has approximately 88 parishes, and about 245 priests both diocesan and missionary as of the year 2021.
The diocese has an estimated population of 1,138,930 Catholics out of the total population of 2,409,585 people in the two counties as per the 2019 Census.
