Prominent African prelate transferred to far smaller diocese
December 18, 2025
Pope Leo XIV yesterday transferred one of Africa’s most prominent prelates to a far smaller diocese.
The Pontiff transferred Bishop Lucio Andrice Muandula from the Diocese of Xai-Xai, Mozambique, which has 504,000 Catholics, to the Diocese of Chimoio, which has 96,000 Catholics. Neither diocese is located in Cabo Delgado province, the site of a brutal Islamist insurgency.
The 66-year-old prelate, appointed bishop of Xai-Xai in 2004, served as president of the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique from 2009 to 2015 and again from 2018 to 2021. As the first vice president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) since 2023, he is one of the continent’s most prominent prelates; he was previously second vice president from 2019 to 2023.
In 2023, Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the Synod, named Bishop Muandula to the seven-member preparatory commission for the synod on synodality.
Bishop Muandula’s transfer follows a visit to Mozambique by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness.
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