KENYA: We Promise to Work with You, Bishops Assure New Apostolic Nuncio

NAIROBI, MAY 7, 2019 (CISA)-The New Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya and South Sudan, H.E Archbishop Hubertus Matheus Maria van Megen arrived in Kenya on May 4.

He was received at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishop (KCCB), Archbishop Philip Anyolo, the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi, John Cardinal Njue, and Archbishop Anthony Muheria of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri, Bishop David Kamau auxiliary of Nairobi, Bishop Alfred Rotich, emeritus of the Military Ordinariate, Monsignor Marco Ganci, Councillor of the Apostolic Nunciature, Fr Daniel Rono, Secretary General of the KCCB, alongside men and women religious priests.

“We promise and assure you that we are going to work together, so that the word of God will continue in its momentum of evangelization within Kenya…We want to encourage you and to give you that support, so that you continue visiting all dioceses in Kenya, to know the country and its people more,” said Archbishop Anyolo in his address to Archbishop Hubertus Matheus Maria van Megen.

The Apostolic Nuncio expressed gratitude for the warm reception, and prayed for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in his new assignment.

“This whole welcome is overwhelming for me…I really look forward to knowing you more. Enlightenment is really what I need. Enlightenment of the Holy Spirit in order to do my work, because if there’s something I have learnt through the years, is that on my own I can’t do anything, but with God, everything is possible,” he said.

Archbishop Van Megen also mentioned that Pope Francis urged him to speed up placement of bishops in the vacant sees, saying that bishops are a vital sacrament of the Church.

“Being a sacrament of the Church, we cannot do without bishops, because they are the sacrament through which Jesu lives,” he said.

Archbishop Van Megen, takes over from Archbishop Charles Balvo, who was transferred to Czech Republic in September 2018.