Dieudonné Nzapalainga | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal,Archbishop of Bangui | |
 Nzapalainga on 16 August 2014. | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Appointed | 14 May 2012 |
| Other posts | President of the Central African Episcopal Conference (2013–) Cardinal-Priest ofSant'Andrea della Valle |
| Previous post | Apostolic Administrator of Bangui (2009–2012) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 9 August 1998 |
| Consecration | 22 July 2012 by Fernando Filoni |
| Created cardinal | 19 November 2016 byPope Francis |
| Rank | Cardinal Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Dieudonné Nzapalainga (1967-03-14)14 March 1967 (age 58) |
| Motto | A l'image de Dieu Il les crea (Ad Imaginem Dei Creavit Illum) (In the Image of God He created them) |
| Coat of arms |  |
Ordination history of Dieudonné Nzapalainga | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Styles of Dieudonné Nzapalainga | |
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| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
Dieudonné Nzapalainga,CSSp (born 14 March 1967) is a Central African prelate of theCatholic Church who has been theArchbishop of Bangui since 2012, where he served as apostolic administrator from 2009 to 2012. He has been president of theCentral African Episcopal Conference since 2013. He is a member of theSpiritans.
WhenPope Francis made him acardinal in 2016, he became the first cardinal from the Central African Republic (CAR), the youngest member of theCollege of Cardinals and the first born after theSecond Vatican Council.
Dieudonné Nzapalainga was born inMbomou in the Diocese of Bangassou on 14 March 1967,[1] the fifth of ten children born to a poor farming family,[2] his father a Catholic and his mother a Protestant.[3] After completing his secondary schooling, he studied at the Saint Louis Minor Seminary inBangassou. the Saints Apôtres Major Philosophy Seminary in was a postulant atOtélé inCameroon, and Daniel Brottier Spiritan Major Seminary, inLibreville,Gabon.[1] He was inspired from the age of ten to join the Spiritans by the model provided by a Dutch Spiritan missionary he knew as a boy, who mixed with the local people and taught him the priesthood was open even to boys like him from outside the urban centers.[4] He professed his initial vows as a member of the Spiritans on 8 September 1993 and made his perpetual vows on 6 September 1997. He was ordained a priest on 9 August 1998.[1]
He earned a licentiate in theology at the Jesuits'Centre Sèvres in Paris. From 1998 to 2005 he worked inMarseille as a chaplain at the Saint Francis de Sales house and at the parish of Saint Jerome.[1] He later cited his years in France as providing him with firsthand experience of the lives of the poor and inspiring his commitment to the poor.[5] From 2005 to 2009 he was regional superior for the Spiritans for its Central African region while working as a parish priest in Bangui. In 2008/2009 he was president of the Conference of Major Superiors of Central Africa.[1]
Nzapalainga became the apostolic administrator of theArchdiocese of Bangui in 2009 following the resignation of ArchbishopPaulin Pomodimo.[6]
On 14 May 2012,Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Archbishop of Bangui.[1] He received hisepiscopal consecration on 22 July 2012[7] from CardinalFernando Filoni and was installed on 29 July 2012.
He has been president of the Central African Episcopal Conference since 2013.[6] In that role in participated in the October 2014 Synod of Bishops on the Family.[7]
He has campaigned for international intervention in the warfare between Muslim and Christian factions in the CAR since it began in 2013, arguing that what appears as sectarian violence is rooted in political and economic time rivalries. Alongside other religious leaders[a] he was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2014 byTime magazine and awarded the 2015 Sergio Vieira de Mello Prize for Peace by the United Nations,[8] among other awards for his peace advocacy.[3] He met Pope Francis when he visited the CAR in 2015,[8][9] where the pope opened the first Holy Door of the Year of Mercy,[8]
Nzapalainga was elevated to the rank of cardinal priest at aconsistory held on 19 November 2016. He was assigned the titular church ofSant'Andrea della Valle.[10] He was the first cardinal from the CAR, the first born after the Second Vatican Council and the youngest member of the College of Cardinals[7] untilGiorgio Marengo became a cardinal in 2022.[11] On 28 January 2017, he was named a member of theCongregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.[12] He was elected moderator of one of the French-language discussion groups at the September 2018 Synod of Bishops on Youth and Vocation.[13] On 8 July 2020, he was named a member of thePontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.[14]
Assessing the work of the October 2023 Synod of Bishops on Synodality, Nzapalainga praised its listening process and devoted to silence and discernment: "this climate of silence, listening and dialogue ... will allow us to move forward not under pressure but in a serene manner".[15]
On 23 October 2024, theSynod of Bishops elected him a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod.[16]
He participated as acardinal elector in the2025 papal conclave that electedPope Leo XIV.[17]
Nzapalainga ha ricevuto diversi riconoscimenti internazionali: l'Aachener Friedenspreis ad Aquisgrana in Germania, il Premio Vieira de Mello a Ginevra, l'Eliasson Global Leadership Award a Città del Messico e il Premio Mundo Negro a la Fraternidad a Madrid.
That was the big shock. I arrived in Paris. There were many people who had their hands out, who had no food, who had dirty clothes. And I said to myself, I want to do my pastoral work with the poor.
| Catholic Church titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Archbishop of Bangui 14 May 2012 – | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Andrea della Valle 19 November 2016 – | |
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