The new Apostolic Nuncio to Southern Africa says he looks forward to meeting the Bishops of Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa.

Invited by Bishop Anton Sipuka the president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) to attend the August 5 to 9 plenary session, Archbishop Henryk Mieczysław Jagodziński will for the first time meet with members of the conference in person.

“I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the president of the Bishop Conference for the invitation, and I am very happy that very soon I will meet all of the Bishops” of the conference said Archbishop Jagodziński during an interview with the SACBC communication office.

Archbishop Jagodziński said although he has seen their photos and read their profiles, it’s different compared to an interpersonal meeting. “It’s different when you see only the face on the picture and some information on the curriculum vitae. This is different when you start to talk, to share, and interact,” he added.

The recently appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Southern Africa told the SACBC communication office that he sees the bishops, the clergy and religious, and the lay faithful in the region as “family members that have something in common” in a missionary church.

Archbishop Jagodziński is scheduled to celebrate the opening mass of the SACBC plenary session on Tuesday, August 6 on the Feast Day of the Transfiguration of the Lord. On the same day, the new Apostolic Nuncio in Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa will also formally address the bishops.

During the August 5 to 9 plenary session, the SACBC members will not only address pastoral and social-political issues but will also elect the new Troika – that is the new SACBC president as well as the first and second vice presidents.