Catholic bishop dies 5 days after appointment by Pope

Catholic Bishop of Kondoa Diocese, Tanzania, Bishop Francis Mfumbusa has died just five days after Pope Leo XIV appointed him  to the Vatican’s Dicastery Commission for Communication.

He was appointed on April  9 and died on April 14 2026.

Vatican News reports that apart from being the Ordinary of Kondoa Diocese, Bishop Mfumbusa was also a respected academic and communications expert. The 20th Plenary Assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), held in Kigali, Rwanda, July-August 2025, elected him as President of the Pan-African Episcopal Committee for Social Communications (CEPACS).

The TEC expressed profound sorrow at the untimely passing of Bishop Mfumbusa.

Bishop Mfumbusa was the first bishop of Kondoa, a diocese established in 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI. He was ordained priest for the Diocese of Dodoma on 14 June 1992. His episcopal consecration took place on 15 May 2011.

Sustainability and interfaith dialogue

Bishop Mfumbusa on a visit to Vatican News- Vatican Radio studios

Born 1962, in Kondoa, he later pursued advanced graduate studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a doctorate in communications in 1997.

After studying in Rome, he returned to Tanzania and joined the faculty at St. Augustine Catholic University of Tanzania (SAUT), serving as Dean of Social Sciences, Assistant Deputy Vice-Chancellor, and eventually Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

As shepherd of Kondoa Diocese, Bishop Mfumbusa placed significant emphasis on diocesan self-sustainability and promoted interfaith coexistence in the mainly Muslim region, demonstrating his commitment to both pastoral responsibility and social harmony.

He ardently promoted the Church’s use of new media for evangelization and communications.