Telesphore George Mpundu (born 21 May 1947) is a Zambian Catholic prelate who served as the Coadjutor Archbishop of Lusaka, from 2004 until 28 October 2006. He then succeeded as Archbishop of Lusaka. He resigned on 30 January 2018.

Early life and education

He was born on 21 May 1947 at Kopeka,

Mpulungu District Mpulungu District is a district of Zambia, located in Northern Province. The capital lies at Mpulungu. As of the 2022 Zambian Census, the district had a population of 153,564 people.

, in the Diocese of Mbala, in the Northern Province of Zambia.

Priesthood

He was ordained a priest on 17 December 1972. He served as priest of Mbala until1 7 March 1987.

Episcopal career

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him as Bishop of Mbala, on 7 March 1987 and he was installed there on 21 June 1987. He was consecrated as bishop by Bishop Adolf Fürstenberg, Bishop Emeritus of Mbala, assisted by Elias White Mutale, Archbishop of Kasama and Adrian Mung'andu, Archbishop of Lusaka. On 1 October 2004 Pope John Paul II again appointed him as

Coadjutor Archbishop The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

of Lusaka, Zambia. On the order of

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

, Mpundu succeeded as the Archbishop of Lusaka, Zambia, on 28 October 2006, upon the retirement of his predecessor, Archbishop

Medardo Joseph Mazombwe Medardo Joseph Mazombwe (24 September 1931 – 29 August 2013) was a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was Zambia's first indigenous cardinal. He was the former archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lusaka (1996–2006) and Bish ...

. On 30 January 2018 Archbishop Telesphore George Mpundu of Lusaka Archdiocese resigned.

Other responsibilities

Archbishop Telesphore George Mpundu served for at last two consecutive terms as the president of the

Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops, known before 2016 as the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) was established in 1965. The statutes of the Conference were approved by the Holy See on April 2, 1984. The ZCCB is a member of the Association of ...

(ZCCB).

References

External links