By Paschal Norbert
PRETORIA, AUGUST 12, 2025 (CISA) – The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) has concluded its August 2025 Plenary Assembly in Pretoria with a renewed commitment to strengthening synodal structures, deepening lay formation, ensuring financial sustainability in Church institutions, and advancing the African Church’s ecological mission through the approved annual Feast of Creation in Christ.
Held from August 4 to 8 at Khanya House, the meeting brought together bishops from South Africa, Botswana, and Eswatini to reflect on pastoral priorities and social challenges in light of the Church’s ongoing global synodal journey.
According to a statement issued on August 8, discussions also focused on the renewal of Catholic higher education and the promotion of lay leadership, with particular recognition of the legacy of the late Bishop Fritz Lobinger, who championed community-based Church life.
In a significant ecological move, the bishops formally approved the annual celebration of the Feast of Creation in Christ, aligning with the African Church’s call for “ecological conversion.” This initiative follows its endorsement by the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), with SACBC delegates playing a key role in securing the decision at the continental level.
The Assembly also paid tribute to the late Bishop Pius Bonaventura Dlamini FFJ, South Africa’s first Black Catholic bishop, with a memorial lecture and a portrait unveiling at St. John Vianney Seminary.
Attention was also given to preparations for the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA), to be hosted by the Catholic Diocese of Manzini, Eswatini, from September 24–29, 2025.
The plenary also welcomed significant new appointments from the Vatican, including Bishop Sithembele Sipuka’s selection to the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and his inclusion in South Africa’s National Dialogue Eminent Persons Group, as well as Bishop Thulani Victor Mbuyisa CMM’s appointment to the Dicastery for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life.
The bishops also bade farewell to Monsignor Dario Paviša, acknowledging his years of diplomatic and pastoral service to the region.
