Auxiliary Bishop of Wote Diocese Appointed Apostolic Administrator of Same Kenyan Episcopal See with Local Ordinary

Nairobi, 22 September, 2025 / 8:49 PM

Bishop Simon Peter Kamomoe, who was on July 5 appointed the Auxiliary Bishop of Kenya’s Wote Catholic Diocese is to serve as the Apostolic Administrator of the same Episcopal See that has Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru as the Local Ordinary.

The latest appointment of Bishop Kamomoe in the Kenyan Diocese erected in July 2023, taking over from  Bishop Norman King’oo Wambua of the neighbouring Catholic Diocese of Machakos, was made public by the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya in a letter dated September 18.

“I wish to inform you that the Dicastery for the Evangelization of Peoples has appointed the Right Reverend Simon Peter Kamomoe, Auxiliary Bishop of Wote, as the Apostolic Administrator sede plena et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the Diocese of Wote, granting him all the faculties in that Diocese,” Archbishop Hubertus van Megen says, indicating in Latin that Bishop Kamomoe is being appointed at the discretion of the Holy See to an office in an Episcopal See that is not vacant.

Bishop Kariuki, who started his Episcopal Ministry in July 2009 as the Local Ordinary of Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Embu was appointed pioneer Bishop of Wote Diocese in July 2023 and installed in September 2023.

In July 2024, Bishop Kariuki delegated “pastoral and administrative responsibilities” of Wote Diocese to Fr. Patrick W. Ndonga, who he said “will be the point of contact for any urgent matters that may arise”.

In the letter he addressed to “All Clergy, Religious Men & Women and Laity of the Catholic Diocese of Wote”, Bishop Kariuki announced that he was beginning his “annual leave effective immediately, July 3rd, 2024.”

“I expect to return on a date to be determined in August (2024),” he further stated, adding, “Please continue to keep me in your prayers for a restful and refreshing leave.”

The 62-year-old Kenyan Catholic Bishop fell ill and has not yet regained his health.

In his September 18 one-page statement, the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya says that the appointment of Bishop Kamomoe as Apostolic Administrator of Wote Diocese “enters into force on Sunday, 21 September 2025, with the public notification of the Decree to the clergy, religious and faithful of the Diocese of Wote.”

The Dutch-born Vatican diplomat expresses spiritual solidarity with the ailing Local Ordinary of Wote Diocese, saying, “We continue to pray for the full and complete recovery of His Lordship the Right Reverend Paul Kariuki Njiru.”

Consecrated Bishop alongside Bishop Wallace Ng’ang’a Gachihi in April 2024 following the double Papal appointment in February 2024, Bishop Kamomoe was ordained a Priest for ADN in June 1994.

He started his Priestly formation at St. Mary's Propaedeutic Seminary, Molo, in Kenya’s Diocese of Nakuru. He proceeded to St. Augustine's Senior Seminary Mabanga in the country’s Catholic Diocese of Bungoma for philosophical studies. For Theology, he was enrolled at St. Matthias Mulumba Senior Seminary Tindinyo in Kenya’s Eldoret Catholic Diocese.

Prior to his Episcopal appointment and Consecration, Bishop Kamomoe had served as assistant Parish Priest, Parish Priest, and member of the College of Consultors of ADN, among other Priestly duties.

Since 2008, he was the Administrator of the Holy Family Minor Basilica and doubled as the Family Life Chaplain of ADN.

The author of "Marriage through a Priestly Eye", "Mothers-in-law and Daughters-in-law", and "Root Causes and Solutions to Conflict” holds a master’s degree in Psychology from Tangaza University College (TUC), and a doctorate in Counselling Psychology from the Kenya-based Catholic University of Eastern African (CUEA), an entity of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA).

As Apostolic Administrator, Bishop Kamomoe is to temporarily take care of the pastoral care of the people of God in Wote Diocese that started off with 31 Parishes, 90 Diocesan Priests, nine Religious Priests, 36 Major Seminarians, and 732 Catechists, as well as 200 educational institutions, according to the 22 July 2023 Holy See report.

Curved out from Machakos Catholic Diocese, the 8,009 Km² Diocese has a total population of 987,653 people, 388,946 of them Catholic, who represent 39.4 percent of the population, according to 2023 statistics.

One of the Suffragan Dioceses of the Metropolitan See of Nairobi, Wote Diocese covers the territory of Kenya’s Makueni County and borders various Kenyan Counties, including Machakos to the North, Kitui to the East, Taita Taveta to the South, and Kajiado to the West.