In unusual move, Pope transfers Kenyan bishop to far smaller diocese
July 08, 2025
In an unusual move, Pope Leo XIV has transferred a Kenyan auxiliary bishop to a diocese that is nearly ten times smaller than his former diocese.
In February 2024, Pope Francis named Father Simon Peter Kamomoe, a priest of the Archdiocese of Nairobi—Kenya’s capital and largest city—as a Nairobi auxiliary bishop. The archdiocese has nearly 3.7 million Catholics.
On July 5, Pope Leo appointed Bishop Kamomoe as the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Wote, which has fewer than 400,000 Catholics.
Pope Francis created the Diocese of Wote in 2023 and named Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru, then 60, as its first bishop. After the bishop suffered a stroke, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Norman King’oo Wambua of Machakos as apostolic administrator; Bishop Njiru has remained the diocese’s bishop.
The Diocese of Wote, then, has a bishop, an apostolic administrator who is also bishop of another diocese, and a new auxiliary bishop.
The transfer of Auxiliary Bishop Kamomoe leaves the Archdiocese of Nairobi with only one auxiliary bishop. In contrast, the Archdiocese of Chicago, which has far fewer Catholics (under 2.1 million), has seven active auxiliary bishops.
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