After reading the Papal letter, the new Archbishop, the Papal Nuncio to Uganda, Archbishop Luigi Bianco led the Dr. Ssemogerere to a special canopy-like chair in the cathedral. He presented him with a Mitre (special headgear) and stuff that Pope John Paul VI used during his first visit to Uganda and Africa at large.
The Most
Rev. Dr. Paul Ssemogerere has officially taken over as the new Archbishop of
Kampala replacing the late Archbishop Kizito Lwanga who died last year. Several
Archbishops, Bishops, priests, nuns, special guests, and hundreds of Christians
witnessed his installation this morning in the fully packed Lubaga Cathedral
with many more others following the events from tents outside the church and
other platforms such as television
and social media.
The
installation began with Rev. Fr. Puis Male, the Chancellor of Kampala Archdiocese reading out the Papal letter to this effect. He read the letter in Latin
in the total silence of the Christians before it was translated to English and
Luganda, sending the fully packed cathedral into applause and singing with joy.
In his
letter, Pope Francis noted that after his consultations with the Congregation of the evangelization of peoples, he
was convinced that Ssemogerere was ready for the new role having gathered
spiritual and human competence, which he can use to enrich the spiritual and
physical needs of the Kampala archdiocese.
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After
reading the Papal letter, the Papal Nuncio to Uganda, Archbishop
Luigi Bianco led Dr. Ssemogerere to a special canopy-like chair in the cathedral. He presented him with a Mitre (special headgear) and stuff that Pope
John Paul VI used during his first visit to Uganda and Africa at large.
After
this ritualistic event, Ssemogerere delivered a brief speech accepting the new
role assigned to him by his venerable brother, Pope Francis. "It fills me
with deep gratitude and joy. I am humbled to be assigned to lead this great
Archdiocese of Kampala," he said sending the congregation into jubilation
as several people congratulated him.
They
included representatives from the central government led by the Vice president,
Jessica Alupo, the Katikiro of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga and Prince
Wassajja, Religious heads, the Clergy, and lay Christians among others.
After
the installation, the new Archbishop led his first eucharist mass as the
ordinary of Kampala Archdiocese joining a special list of three others including
Emmanuel Cardinal Kiwanuka Nsubuga: (1966 - 1990), Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala (1990
- 2006), and Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga (2006 - 2021).
Canon
law requires that if the Archbishop-designate is already a bishop, as
Ssemogerere, he must take canonical possession of the See within two months of
the date of his appointment. Ssemogerere didn’t receive episcopal consecration
given the fact that he is already a Bishop.
Pope Francis named Bishop Paul
Ssemogerere as the new Archbishop of Kampala Metropolitan Archdiocese on
December 9, 2021. Until that day, the designated Episcopate was the Bishop of
Kasana- Luwero diocese.
On
April 8, 2021, four days after the death of Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga,
Pope Francis appointed Bishop Ssemogerere as Apostolic Administrator for
Kampala, a role he has played until his installation as the next Archbishop of
the metropolitan see.
Ssemogerere
was born on June 30, 1956, at Kisubi, in the present-day Wakiso District. He
attended Kigero Primary School before transferring to Kisubi Boys Primary
School. He later joined St. Maria Goretti Senior Secondary School Katende,
where he completed his ordinary level studies.
In
1976, Ssemogerere and seven other young men became pioneer students of St.
Mbaaga Seminary at Ggaba. This was the pioneer class of this seminary, which
specializes in training men as priests when they are older and without having
attended a minor seminary.
In
1978, the late Cardinal Emmanuel Kiwanuka Nsubuga sent Ssemogerere to the Saint
Francis de Sales Seminary, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States, where
he graduated with a Master of Divinity degree in 1982. On November 21, 1981, he
was ordained deacon by Archbishop Rembert George Weakland, the Archbishop of
Milwaukee.
On Martyrs’ Day, 1983, Ssemogerere was ordained a priest and
incardinated in the Archdiocese of Kampala. His
episcopal journey began on June 4, 2008, when he was elected Bishop of
Kasana-Luwero, replacing Dr. Kizito Lwanga who had been elevated to Archbishop
of Kampala two years earlier
