Ernest Kombo (March 27, 1941 – October 22, 2008) was a

Congo-Brazzaville The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

religious official born in 1941 in

Pointe-Noire Pointe-Noire (; kg, Njinji, french: Ndjindji with the letter d following French spelling standards) is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, following the capital of Brazzaville, and an autonomous department since 2004. Before t ...

French Equatorial Africa French Equatorial Africa (french: link=no, Afrique-Équatoriale française), or the AEF, was the federation of French colonial possessions in Equatorial Africa, extending northwards from the Congo River into the Sahel, and comprising what are ...

. He was ordained a Catholic priest for the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

(S.J.) on July 6, 1973. On December 5, 1983, he was appointed the third bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nkayi and he was consecrated bishop on January 6, 1984 by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

assisted by Cardinals

Eduardo Martínez Somalo Eduardo Martínez Somalo (; 31 March 1927 – 10 August 2021) was a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church who spent most of his career in the Roman Curia, first in the Secretariat of State (Holy See), Secretariat of State from 1956 to 1975 an ...

and

Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy (5 February 1924 – 2 June 2014) was an Indian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the Roman Curia and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1985. His ...

, inside

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

. Following the appointment of Msgr. Georges-Firmin Singha as Bishop of Pointe-Noire, Bishop Kombo was transferred to the

Diocese of Owando The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Owando is a jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in the Republic of Congo. On February 11, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Victor Abagna Mossa as Bishop of Owando. On May 30, 2020, the Diocese of Owando ...

on July 7, 1990 as the second bishop of that diocese from the Republic of the Congo. He was very direct in his manner. From 1991 to 1992, he was elected to head Congo's interim legislature, the Conseil Superieur de la Republique (CRS). In October 1994, at the

General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops In the Catholic Church, the Synod of Bishops, considered as an advisory body for the pope, is one of the ways in which the bishops render cooperative assistance to him in exercising his office. It is described in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as " ...

, at the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

, Bishop Kombo proposed that some Roman Catholic

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

s be made members of the

College of Cardinals The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are appoi ...

, because of their mission to the Roman Catholic Church. Msgr. Kombo died in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, at the

Val-de-Grâce The (' or ') was a military hospital located at in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was closed as a hospital in 2016. History The church of the was built by order of Queen Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII. After the birth of h ...

Hospital of stomach cancer, on Wednesday, October 22, 2008, aged 67, where he was recovering from his poor health. According to his will, his body was repatriated to his native Congo for interment inside the small Catholic Cemetery adjoining the Metropolitan Cathedral Sacre-Coeur of Brazzaville.

Notes

1941 births 2008 deaths Presidents of the National Assembly (Republic of the Congo) Republic of the Congo Jesuits 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Republic of the Congo 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Republic of the Congo Jesuit bishops Roman Catholic bishops of Owando Roman Catholic bishops of Nkayi Republic of the Congo Roman Catholic bishops {{RCongo-bio-stub