Félicien Ntambue Kasembe, CICM (born 8 September 1970) is a Congolese prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and a member of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He has been appointed metropolitan archbishop of

Kananga Kananga, formerly known as Luluabourg or Luluaburg, is the capital city of the Kasai-Central, Kasai-Central Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and was the capital of the former Kasaï-Occidental , Kasaï-Occidental Province. It is ...

. He was bishop of Kabinda from 2020 to 2024. Before he became a priest, he did

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

work in

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Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, and

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Biography

Ntambue Kasembe was born in

Kabinda Kabinda is the capital city of Lomami Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Projected to be the second fastest growing African continent city between 2020 and 2025, with a 6.37% growth. Geography Kabinda is served by Tunta Airpo ...

, in the province of

Lomami Lomami may refer to: * Lomami River, a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Lomami Province, a province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Lomami Province (former) Lomami is one of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republ ...

, on 8 September 1970. He graduated with a state diploma in 1988, studying biology and chemistry. He became a novice of the

Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary The CICM Missionaries officially named as the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ( la, Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae) abbreviated C.I.C.M, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men established in ...

(the Scheut Missionaries) in the Mbudi neighborhood of Kinshasa in 1989 and studied philosophy at the Seminary of St. Peter Canisius for three years beginning in 1990. Between 1993 and 1996, he undertook an internship as a

and

. He then made his final vows as a Scheut Missionary. He studied theology in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

from 1996 until 2001. On 12 August 2001, Ntambue was ordained a priest in Kabinda. After ordination, Ntambue's first pastoral assignment was as vicar of St. Eugène church in Menkao,

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

, where he served for two years and became pastor. He then worked for his order as Provincial Secretary and Rector of Scheutists in Kinshasa from 2003 to 2006 and then as Director of the Pedagogical Research Center in Kinshasa and Secretary of the Scheutists' Provincial Commission for Finance from 2003 to 2007. He then returned to academic pursuits and earned a bachelor's degree in civil law from the Notre Dame de la Paix University in Namur in 2009, a master's in civil law from the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve and master's in human rights at the Saint Louis Faculty of Law in Brussels in 2011. Returning to Kinshasa, he was Provincial Councilor of the CICM in Kinshasa from 2013 to 2016. The next year he was the African Delegate on the committee preparing for the CICM General Chapter and then the delegate of the Kinshasa Province to that meeting 2017. From 2017 to 2020 Ntambue was one of the General Councillors of the CICM Missionaries, based in Rome. Ntambue was appointed Bishop of Kabinda on 23 July 2020 by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

. On 27 September 2020, he received his episcopal consecration from

Ernest Ngboko Ngombe Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor *Ernest, M ...

, Archbishop of Mbandaka-Bikoro and was installed as bishop. On 21 December 2022 he was appointed apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Kananga. On 19 March 2024, Pope Francis named him archbishop of Kananga.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ntambue Kasembe, Felicien 1970 births 20th-century Roman Catholic priests 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops Bishops appointed by Pope Francis 21st-century Roman Catholic priests Living people People from Lomami Province