Gabriel Mbilingi

C.S.Sp. , image = Holy Ghost Fathers seal.png , size = 175px , caption = The seal of the Congregation depicting the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Trinity. , abbreviation ...

, (born 17 January 1958 in Bândua, Bié,

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

) is the current Angolan

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Lubango Lubango, formerly known as Sá da Bandeira, is a municipality in Angola, capital of the Huíla Province, with a population of 914,456 in 2022. The city center had a population of 600,751 in 2014 making it the second-most populous city in Angola af ...

. Since 20 November 2009 he is the president of the

Episcopal Conference An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to ...

of Angola and São Tomé and Principe, short named CEAST (''Conferencia Episcopal de Angola e São Tomé e Príncipe'').

Life

On February 26, 1984 Gabriel Mbilingi joined the

Congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: *Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...

of the

Spiritan , image = Holy Ghost Fathers seal.png , size = 175px , caption = The seal of the Congregation depicting the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Trinity. , abbreviation ...

(Latin: ''Congregatio Sancti Spiritus; CSSp'') and received the

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...

. On 15 October 1999 he was appointed 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 ...

Coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

of the Diocese of Lwena; on 6 January 2000 the Pope himself consecrated him as bishop. Later he followed the resignation of his predecessor, José da Próspero Ascensao Puaty as Bishop of Lwena in the

Huambo Province Huambo is a province of Angola. With an area of 34,270 km2, it is one of the geographically smaller provinces, situated in the Central Region approximately 450 km south east of the capital, Luanda. The province had a population of 2,01 ...

. 2006 he was appointed Coadjutor bishop of the Archdiocese of Lubango. On 22 July 2007 the General assembly of the Bishops' Conference for Southern Africa in

Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...

, elected him as the new President of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA). With the resignation of Archbishop Zacarias Kamwenho on 6 September 2009 he became the new Archbishop of Lubango. On 29 June 2010, he was received as the new

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

of the Ecclesiastical Province of Lubango in

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 en ...

the pallium from Pope Benedict XVI.Metropolitan Archbishops who received the pallium of St Peter and Paul
(Italian)

References

External links

Website of SECAM, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar

Official website Imbisa

Video with an interview from Gabriel Mbilingi
(Italian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mbilingi, Gabriel 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Angola Living people 1958 births Holy Ghost Fathers People from Bié Province Roman Catholic archbishops of Lubango Roman Catholic bishops of Lwena