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Gabriel Mbilingi

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The Most Reverend
Gabriel Mbilingi
C.S.Sp.
Archbishop of Lubango
Mbilingi in Rio de Janeiro in 2012.
Mbilingi in Rio de Janeiro in 2012.
Church Roman Catholic Church
Archdiocese Lubango
See Lubango
Appointed 5 September 2009
Predecessor Zacarias Kamwenho
Previous posts Coadjutor Bishop of Luena (1999-2000)
Bishop of Luena (2000-06)
Coadjutor Archbishop of Lubango (2006-09)
President of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (2007-12)
President of the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé (2009-15)
President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (2013-19)
Orders
Ordination 26 February 1984
Consecration 6 January 2000
by Pope John Paul II
Personal details
Born Gabriel Mbilingi
17 January 1958
Bândua, Bié, Angola
Motto Et passio Christi

Gabriel Mbilingi C.S.Sp., (born 17 January 1958 in Bândua, Bié, Angola) is the current Angolan Archbishop of Lubango. Since 20 November 2009 he is the president of the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe, or CEAST (Conferencia Episcopal de Angola e São Tomé e Príncipe).[1]

Life

On February 26, 1984, Gabriel Mbilingi joined the Congregation of the Spiritan (Latin: Congregatio Sancti Spiritus; CSSp) and received the ordination. On 15 October 1999 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as Coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Lwena; on 6 January 2000 the Pope himself consecrated him as bishop. Later he followed the resignation of his predecessor, José da Próspero Ascensao Puaty as Bishop of Lwena in the Huambo Province. In 2006 he was appointed Coadjutor bishop of the Archdiocese of Lubango.[2]

On 22 July 2007 the General assembly of the Bishops' Conference for Southern Africa in Luanda, elected him as the new President of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA).[3]

With the resignation of Archbishop Zacarias Kamwenho on 6 September 2009 he became the new Archbishop of Lubango.[4] On 29 June 2010, he was received as the new Metropolitan[5] of the Ecclesiastical Province of Lubango in St. Peter's Basilica the pallium from Pope Benedict XVI.[6]

References