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Bishops, Clergy in Mozambique’s Guruè Diocese Elated at New Bishop’s Appointment

Bishop-elect Inácio Lucas of Mozambique’s Guruè Diocese

The appointment of a new Bishop for Mozambique’s Diocese of Guruè is being celebrated, with some Bishops and members of the Clergy expressing their gratitude to God and prayers for the Bishop-elect. 

The appointment of Fr Inácio Lucas as the new Local Ordinary of the Mozambican Diocese was announced Tuesday, February 2. The Diocese has been vacant since April 2019 when Bishop Francisco Lerma Martínez passed on. 

“We give thanks to God for the gift of the Bishop long desired and expected by the Diocese of Guruè and by his Apostolic Administrator,” the Apostolic Administrator of Guruè, Bishop Germano Graciano Grachane said Friday, February 5.

Bishop Alberto Vera Aréjula of Mozambique’s Nacala Diocese where the Bishop-elected served as Parish Priest of Saint John Alua and Rector of the Shrine of Saint Mary Mother of Africa, invited the people of God to pray for the episcopal ministry of Fr. Lucas. 

“I invite you to unite our hearts in prayer to the Lord so that the grace of our God, the Gift of the Holy Spirit, will fill the life and heart and spirit of Fr Inácio Lucas and that can serve the Church with love and fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Aréjula said in a statement issued February 2.

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Speaking to ACI Africa correspondent in Mozambique, Fr Humberto Kuijpers shared his encounter with the Bishop-elect saying he met Fr. Lucas while he (Fr. Kuijpers) was serving as Dean of Studies at St. Augustine Major Seminary of Philosophy and, later, as Rector of Pius X Major Theological Seminary.

“I can say he is quite serious, therefore worthy of the episcopal office,” Bishop Kuijpers said in reference to the Bishop-elect.

The Dutch missionary Cleric noted that the episcopate is “an ecclesial service characterized by the example of holiness, charity, humility and simplicity of life.”

On his part, Adelino Roia said, “Fr Inacio was my formator and my teacher of liturgy. His appointment as bishop is a cause for joy for me. His liturgical rigor and his pastoral zeal will fit very well to the ministry he is now going to exercise.”

Until his appointment, the 52-year-old Bishop-elect was the Vicar General of the Diocese of Nacala. 

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He was ordained a Priest for the Diocese of Nacala in June 1998. 

An alumnus of the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant'Anselmo in Rome, the Bishop-elect previously served as Rector of the Shrine of Nossa Senhora Mãe de África in Alua, Mozambique. 

He is expected to serve as the third Bishop of the Diocese of Guruè that is under the patronage of St. Anthony of Lisbon.