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The resignation of the 62-year-old Catholic Church leader was made public by the Holy See Press Office on November 7, and also read at a press conference at the Our Lady of Candelaria Cathedral of Bissau Diocese.
The Holy Father also appointed the Local Ordinary of Bafatá Diocese, Bishop Víctor Luís Quematcha, as the Bishop of the Bissau-Guinean Episcopal See.
Catholic Bishops are expected to present their resignation upon reaching the age of 75, although they may also do so earlier for other compelling reasons, including “ill-health or other grave problems.”
According to the November 7 communique from the Apostolic Nunciature based in Dakar, Senegal, read to journalists by the Vicar General of Bissau Diocese, recent health challenges have led Bishop Lampra Cá to submit his resignation to allow another pastor to lead the Diocese.
“The Apostolic Nunciature expresses its profound gratitude to Bishop José Lampra Cá for his dedication, his pastoral zeal and his generous service to the Church throughout his ministry at the head of the Diocese of Bissau,” Archbishop Waldemar Stanisław Sommertag, Apostolic Nuncio in Senegal, said.
He assured Bishop Lampra Cá of his “fraternal closeness and accompanies him with his prayers.”
Archbishop Sommertag also invites Priests, Religious men and women, Consecrated Persons, and all the faithful of the Diocese of Bissau to welcome their new Bishop in “faith and hope, accompanying him with their prayers in the pastoral mission entrusted to him.”
“May the Lord grant him the grace of being a pastor after His own heart, an artisan of communion, a servant in humility and a faithful witness to the Gospel,” he implored.
Born in January 1964, Bishop Lampra Cà was ordained a Priest for the Diocese of Bissau in December 1997. He was appointed Bishop of Bissau Diocese in December 2021, succeeding Bishop José Câmnate na Bissign, the first native Bishop in the two-Diocese nation of Guinea-Bissau.
The Mass of canonical possession of the new Bishop of Bissau is scheduled for November 15 at the Our Lady of Candelária Cathedral of Bissau Diocese.
Until a new pastor is appointed for the Diocese of Bafatá and takes canonical possession, Bishop Quematcha will continue to ensure the pastoral governance of that Diocese as Apostolic Administrator.
The member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap) was born in April 1967 in Cúmura in the Catholic Diocese of Bissau. He was ordained a Priest in May 1998 in Nhoma, Guinea-Bissau.
As a Priest, Bishop Quematcha served as deputy master of novices in Dapaong, Togo, and Rector of the St. Kizito Minor Seminary in Guinea-Bissau.
The holder of a licentiate in Moral Theology from the Pontifical Alphonsian Academy in Rome went on to serve as professor of moral theology in the Bishop Settimo Arturo Ferrazetta Interdiocesan Major Seminary in Bissau, master of temporary professed in Brá, and custodian of the Custody of Saint Francis of Assisi for Guinea-Bissau.
He also served as Parish Priest of the Our Lady of Candelaria Cathedral of Bissau Diocese, and director of the Mal-de-Hansen Hospital in Cúmura.
In March 2025, he was appointed Local Ordinary of Bafatá Diocese.
In another message, Archbishop Sommertag said the appointment of Bishop Quematcha “is a reason for joy and thanksgiving for the whole Church in Bissau.”
“This appointment opens a new stage in the pastoral life of your Diocese,” he said.
The Nuncio added, “We invite you to welcome your new Bishop in a spirit of faith, communion and trust. May each one, according to his or her vocation and mission in the Church, contribute to building a Church that is ever more united, fraternal and missionary.”
“We ask the Priests, the religious, the Consecrated Persons and the lay faithful to accompany Bishop Victor Luís Quematcha with their prayers and fraternal collaboration, so that he may exercise his ministry in the service of communion, unity and the proclamation of the Gospel,” he said.
Archbishop Sommertag continued, “We entrust this new stage in the life of your Diocese to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. May she accompany your new Bishop in his mission and sustain all the People of God on their path of faith, hope and charity.”
“May the Lord bless your Diocese and make the seeds of the Gospel bear fruit,” he implored.
Once he is installed, Bishop Quematcha will serve as the third Local Ordinary of the Diocese that was erected in September 1940.
The 11,495-square-kilometer Bissau-Guinean Diocese has a population of 172,575 Catholics according to 2018 statistics.