Novatus Rugambwa (born 8 October 1957) is a Tanzanian prelate of the

Roman 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 diplomat of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

Biography

Novatus Rugambwa was born on 8 October 1957, in

Bukoba Bukoba is a city with a population of 128,796 (2012 census), situated in the north west of Tanzania on the south western shores of Lake Victoria. It is the capital of the Kagera region, and the administrative seat for Bukoba Urban District. ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, and was ordained a priest on 6 July 1986, for the Diocese of Bukoba. He holds a degree in canon law. In 1987 he was admitted to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy to study diplomacy. Rugambwa entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 1 July 1991, and served in the pontifical diplomatic missions in Panama, Republic of Congo, Pakistan, New Zealand and Indonesia. He was named undersecretary of the

Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People ( la, Pontificium Consilium de Spirituali Migrantium atque Itinerantium Cura) was a pontifical council of the Roman Curia. The council, established by Pope John Paul I ...

on 28 June 2007. On 6 February 2010 he was named Titular Archbishop of Tagaria and apostolic nuncio to São Tomé and Príncipe. He was named apostolic nuncio to

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

on 20 February 2010 as well. His episcopal consecration took place on 18 March 2010; Cardinal

Tarcisio Bertone Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone (born 2 December 1934) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and a Vatican diplomat. A cardinal, he served as Archbishop of Vercelli from 1991 to 1995, as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine o ...

was the principal consecrator, with bishops Pier Giorgio Micchiardi and Nestorius Timanywa, as principal co-consecrators.

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. ...

named him nuncio to Honduras on 5 March 2015. On 29 March 2019, Pope Francis named Rugambwa apostolic nuncio to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and apostolic delegate to the countries of the Pacific Ocean. On 25 May the responsibilities of Apostolic Nuncio to Fiji and to Palau were assigned to him. On 30 November he was given additional responsibility as Apostolic Nuncio to the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, and Tonga. On 17 April 2020, he was named Apostolic Nuncio to Samoa as well. On 2 February 2021, Rugambwa was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the Cook Islands, a post that had been vacant since 2018, and on 30 March to

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

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Biography

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