This post was originally published on this site.
Pope Leo XIV met Tuesday with one of Africa’s most prominent Catholic leaders.
That, in itself, is not surprising. But the background to the June 30 encounter between Leo XIV and Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga of Bangui, Central African Republic, is intriguing.
The private audience came just two months after Leo XIV appointed a coadjutor Archbishop of Bangui, even though Nzapalainga is only 59 years of age and would not ordinarily be expected to submit his resignation to the pope before 2042.
There was no public explanation for the unusual appointment, which came after uncorroborated reports of a Vatican investigation into an alleged crisis in the Central African Church and unconfirmed rumors that the Holy See had requested Nzapalainga’s resignation.
Who is Cardinal Nzapalainga? What are the alleged concerns? And what might happen next?
Who is Cardinal Nzapalainga?
Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga is an internationally renowned champion of peace and reconciliation in the Central African Republic, a landlocked French-speaking nation of more than 5 million people that has suffered civil war for the past 13 years.
Nzapalainga was born in Mbomou, in the southeast of the country, in 1967. His seminary training took place not only in his
Read more...
