Kenyan Diocese Prepares to Receive Coadjutor Bishop amid Calls for Prayers

Machakos, 15 January, 2026 / 5:48 PM

The Local Ordinary of the Catholic Diocese of Machakos has invited the people under his pastoral care to offer spiritual solidarity with the newly appointed Co-adjutor Bishop as he prepares to begin his ministry in the Kenyan Episcopal See.

In a Pastoral letter that ACI Africa obtained on Friday, January 16, Bishop Norman King’oo Wambua announces the date Bishop Joseph Maluki Mwongela will be formally received from the Catholic Diocese of Kitui, where he had been serving until his appointment on January 4.

“On 4th January 2026, the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, appointed Bishop Joseph Mwongela as the Coadjutor Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Machakos. Following this news, I wish to inform you that his reception will be held on the 19th March 2026,” he says in the letter dated January 9 and addressed to the Clergy, men and women Religious and the Laity of the Machakos Diocese.

Bishop King’oo, who has been at the helm of the Kenyan Diocese since August 2018, urges them to pray for the Co-adjutor Bishop “as he prepares to assume this important responsibility,” adding that the venue of the ceremony “will be communicated in due course.”

“We look forward to your continued cooperation and support as we welcome the new Bishop,” says the 74-year-old Kenyan-born Catholic Church leader, who began his Episcopal ministry in August 1998 in the Catholic Diocese of Bungoma.

The newly appointed Coadjutor Bishop will assist Bishop Wambua in the pastoral care of the people of God in Machakos Diocese, which covers a total area of 2,366 km² with a total population of 1,421,932 people, 610,150 of them Catholic, representing 42.9 percent of the population, according to 2023 statistics.

He is to automatically succeed the current Local Ordinary upon the vacancy of the Kenyan Episcopal See, ensuring a smooth and orderly pastoral transition.

Bishop Mwongela, who has served as Bishop of Kitui since his Episcopal Consecration in August 2020, is set to succeed the fourth Bishop of Machakos, who stands in a line of episcopal leadership that includes the late Archbishop Raphael Ndingi Mwana’a Nzeki, the late Bishop Urbanus Joseph Kioko, and Archbishop Martin Kivuva Musonde, who was later transferred to head the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa.

For over three years (February 2015–August 2018), the Diocese of Machakos also benefited from the pastoral oversight of Archbishop Anthony Muheria of Nyeri Catholic Archdiocese, who served as Apostolic Administrator during a period of transition. 

Born on 7 April 1968 in Kakumi, within the Diocese of Kitui, Bishop Mwongela brings to Machakos a pastoral style shaped by years of service, theological formation, and close engagement with the people of God.

He was ordained a priest on 7 September 1996 and had served Kitui Diocese in various capacities before his Episcopal Appointment in March 2020, including Parish Priest, Diocesan Chancellor, Vocations Director, and Vicar General.