Thursday, August 20, 2009

Pope names new bishops for Uganda

POPE Benedict XVI has appointed an Italian priest as the new bishop for the Catholic Diocese of Kotido in Karamoja.

Giuseppe Filippi, who has been the provincial superior of the Comboni Missionaries in Uganda, was appointed on Monday.

According to the Uganda Episcopal Conference secretary general, John Baptist Kauta, the Pope also accepted the resignation of Arua Bishop Frederick Drandua, over health reasons.

He added that the Auxiliary Gulu Bishop, Sabino Ocan Odoki, was appointed as the Apostolic Administrator (interim overseer) of the diocese until a substantive bishop is named.

The appointment of Fr. Filippi brings the number of Italian bishops serving in Uganda to two.

The other is his fellow Comboni Missionary, Bishop Giuseppe Franzelli of Lira Diocese.

Kotido, which is the farthest diocese in eastern Uganda under the Ecclesiastical Province of Tororo, borders Sudan and Kenya.

It has been under an Apostolic Administrator, Mill Hill missionary Fr. Bernard Phelan, since 2007 when then Kotido Bishop, Dennis Kiwanuka Lote, was elevated to Archbishop of Tororo Archdiocese.

Filippi was born on March 17, 1945, in Italy. He is also the chairman of the board of trustees of the Leadership Magazine, the oldest Catholic publication in Uganda.

Filippi, currently preparing for the general meeting of the Comboni Missionaries, had also been lined to head the congregation as superior general, a source said.
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