Manzini, 28 January, 2026 / 7:10 pm (ACI Africa).
Members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) have been urged to justify their absence from their respective Episcopal Sees by implementing deliberations during their January 21–27 Plenary Assembly.
In his Tuesday, January 27 homily during the closing Mass of the SACBC Plenary organized under the theme “Synodality and Mission”, Bishop Sithembele Anton Sipuka said, “You guys have been here for more than a week, and now you are going back home. You have to justify your absence from your Diocese by doing something when you arrive.”
In their weeklong Plenary Assembly at St John Vianney Seminary in the Catholic Archdiocese of Pretoria, Bishops in Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa discussed, among other topics, submitting candidates to participate in the 2027 Sabbatical Programme by the end of February 2026, ensuring mass production of Altar Mass, and promoting the official Altar wine in their respective Episcopal Sees.
In his January 27 homily, Bishop Sipuka said that from the various deliberations, a commitment to implement resolutions is essential. He noted that “quite often we make these resolutions year by year, and yet very often not many of them are carried out.”
The Archbishop-elect for South Africa’s Cape Town Archdiocese described the Gospel Reading of the day as “very providential” and explained, “As we conclude our conference, Jesus is telling us that we belong to him not by blood association, but by doing his will.”
