Pope Leo XIV Appoints Local Ordinary for Chimoio Catholic Diocese in Mozambique

Maputo, 17 December, 2025 / 4:02 PM

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Lucio Andrice Muandula of Mozambique’s Catholic Diocese of Xai Xai Local Ordinary of Chimoio Catholic Diocese in the Southern African nation.

The appointment of Bishop Muandula to oversee the Diocese that became vacant on 15 November 2022, following the transfer of Bishop João Carlos Hatoa Nunes to Maputo Archdiocese as the Coadjutor Archbishop, was made public by the Holy See Press Office on Wednesday, December 17.

Born on 9 October 1959, in the Catholic Archdiocese of Maputo, Bishop Muandula was ordained a Priest of the same Metropolitan See on 14 May 1989 after completing his philosophical and theological studies at the Interdiocesan Seminary of St. Pius X in Maputo.

The holder of a doctorate in biblical theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome was appointed Bishop of Xai-Xai on 24 June 2004, followed by his episcopal ordination on October 24 of the same year.

Bishop Muandula was among the African Bishops who were instrumental during the Synodal process, which is now in the implementation phase.

On 15 March 2023, he was among the seven appointees to the newly established Preparatory Commission, commonly known as the Synod on Synodality, whose task was to facilitate the realization of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

The 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops is the Synod of Catholic Bishops that the Vatican announced in March 2020 and later extended to October 2024, on the theme, "For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission".

Once installed, Bishop Muandula will become the third Local Ordinary of the Mozambican Episcopal See that measures 62,272 square kilometers with a population of 96000 Catholics representing 4.0 percent of the total population, according to the 2023 statistics.

Erected on 19 November 1990, the Chimoio Catholic Diocese is part of the Ecclesiastical province of Beira alongside the Quelimane and Tete Catholic Dioceses.