Next pope: Why a leading African cardinal might not participate in papal election
Kenyan Cardinal John Njue is expected to miss the upcoming papal conclave due to health concerns, as clarified by the Archdiocese of Nairobi.
Cardinal Njue's absence has sparked debate about African representation in the Catholic Church's highest decision-making body.
Of the 135 eligible electors for the next pope, 18—representing 17 African nations—are from Africa, constituting 13% of the total.
Fresh details have emerged explaining the likely absence of Africa's Cardinal John Njue (Kenya) from the highly anticipated papal election.
As the Church prepares to elect a successor to Pope Francis, whose death last month marked the end of an era, the potential absence of a leading African voice has sparked renewed debate over representation, transparency, and health in the Vatican's highest ranks.
Cardinal electors under the age of 80 are eligible to vote for the next pontiff.
Of the 135 electors expected to participate, 18 are from Africa—accounting for 13% of the total and representing a continent that is now home to nearly 20% of the world's Catholic population.
The Cardinals are expected to gather at 10 a.m. Vatican time on May 7 for the traditional ' Pro Eligendo Romano Pontefice ' Mass at St. Peter's Basilica before proceeding to the Sistine Chapel for the conclave.
However, 79-year-old Cardinal Njue—Kenya's second-ever cardinal and Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi—is not expected to attend.
In an earlier interview with a local Kenyan newspaper, Cardinal Njue hinted at confusion surrounding his absence. 'It's not because of health... I don't know really... it's difficult to comment about it, ' he said, raising questions about whether an official invitation was ever extended.
However, officials from the Catholic Church in Kenya later clarified that the cardinal had indeed received an invitation but was unable to travel due to health reasons.
Kenya's Catholic church clarifies Njue's absence
The Archdiocese of Nairobi has issued a formal statement to address growing speculation and misinformation surrounding the absence of Cardinal John Njue from the ongoing papal conclave.
According to the statement, there had been 'various enquiries' regarding whether the cardinal would join his peers in Rome to elect the next pope.
' Although he [Njue] is eligible to participate and was officially invited... owing to his current health condition, he will be unable to travel to Rome, ' the statement, signed by Archbishop Philip Anyolo, clarified.
While the archbishop did not specify the nature of the health concerns, he urged the faithful to keep Cardinal Njue in their prayers: ' Let us also continue to pray for the good health of His Eminence John Cardinal Njue.'
Cardinal Njue, who served as Archbishop of Nairobi from 2007 until his retirement in 2021, was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007—becoming Kenya's second-ever cardinal.
Though still under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote, he, along with Spain's Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, are the only two out of the 135 eligible electors not expected to take part in the conclave.
Eligible African cardinals
The College of Cardinals currently includes 29 members from 23 African countries. Of these, 18 are under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a papal conclave—15 of whom were appointed by Pope Francis.
These electors represent 17 nations: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, and Tanzania.
However, growing concerns surround the participation of some of the continent's senior cardinals due to age or health-related issues.
Among the oldest eligible African electors(All 79 years) are Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi; Cardinal Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo, Archbishop Emeritus of Ouagadougou; and Cardinal Jean-Pierre Kutwa, Archbishop Emeritus of Abidjan.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time Magazine
2 hours ago
- Time Magazine
William Ruto Has Failed Kenyans Like Me
On a humid July afternoon, I found myself at a stall in Brixton Market in South London buying a Kenyan flag bracelet. The lanky man selling the country bracelets asked me if I was replacing mine. I told him I had never owned one. He stopped flicking through the bracelets and paused, his hand mid-air holding a string of beads in red, green, white and black—the colors of the Kenyan flag. 'Why?' he asked. 'I have a complicated relationship with my country.' I replied. 'The politics, the politicians.' He concurred. 'Bro, I'm Nigerian so I know exactly what you mean.' We laughed about it some more, this shared misery of ours, the state of our countries. I tapped five pounds for the bracelet, wore it around my wrist, and left. This was me finally displaying my Kenyanness, this was me saying, 'My country is not perfect but it is mine.' I sat on the tube from Brixton, scrolled through my Twitter feed, and watched photos and videos of young Kenyans covered in tear-gas smoke and the water cannon spray. On June 8, Albert Ojwang, a 31-year old teacher and anti-corruption blogger, was killed in police custody after being arrested for allegedly insulting a senior police officer on social media. His death in Nairobi sparked a series of protests by young Kenyans against police brutality and lack of government accountability. The young protesters were again met with the brute force of the Kenyan police. I shuddered at a video of hawker Boniface Kariuki being shot in the head. I saw images of young people lying dead on the road, their blood spilling and meshing with the tarmac. Mothers crying out loud for their children, and fathers hugging their children close to their chests. In three weeks of protests, 38 people were killed and 29 others injured. I couldn't help but ask myself how did we get here? How did we allow ourselves to sink to this point? That, of course, is the easier question to answer with our own choices in the elections. How do we get away from this becomes a much harder one to deal with. This is the tug-of-war relationship I've had with this place I call home. A personal history of post-colonial violence The first time I encountered police brutality in the hands of the Kenyan police, I was four years old. It was Saba Saba day, July 7, 1997. On my way home from nursery school I was caught up in the nationwide protests against the government of Daniel arap Moi, the dictator who ruled Kenya between 1978 and 2002 animated by calls for a transition from a one-party state to a multiparty democracy. I choked up on teargas as I ran home, my great-grandmother waiting for me at the door. My memory of that day shaped my relationship with the Kenyan state and its violent machinery. Years later, I would learn that a 17-year-old boy was murdered by the police in those protests. Often, I wonder if his ghost looks at the other young people who have been murdered at the hands of the state: Samantha Pendo, a six month old, killed in a police operation in an opposition stronghold after protests against irregularities in a 2017 election; Rex Masai, the first person to be killed in the 2024 crackdown on peaceful protests against government plans to increase taxes on bread, sanitary pads, diapers, vegetable oil and fuel; two brothers, Benson Njiru Ndwiga, a 22-year old law student, and Emmanuel Mutura Ndwiga, an 19-year-old engineering student, were murdered by policemen enforcing a Covid-19 lockdown. And many more who have lost their lives to the ruthlessness of the Kenyan police. The difficult business of democracy In 1992, a year before I was born, a group called YK '92 was launched into the Kenyan political scene to sabotage the general elections and ensure that Moi's iron grip on power continued. The group used intimidation, coercion, corruption, and violence. In collaboration with the dictatorship, they printed so much money it created an inflation crisis. One of the key players in this instrument of the dictatorship was a protégé of Moi: a young William Samoei Ruto, who rose through the ranks and eventually was elected the president of Kenya in 2022. I became aware of Ruto and the space he occupied in the Kenyan political ecosystem as a teenager during the fiercely contested general elections in Kenya in 2007. The incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was being challenged by Raila Odinga, who had aligned with him in 2002 to get Moi out of power. Odinga was expected to win but the elections were marred by irregularities. President Kibaki was declared the winner for the second term. Odinga and his party disputed the results and widespread violence followed. In the end, they agreed to a power sharing deal brokered by Kofi Annan. Eventually, Ruto would be among those charged at the International Criminal Court for the post-election violence in which aproximately 1,200 people died and half a million people were displaced. Accusations against Ruto ranged from murder, transporting violent groups from one area to another to kill people, to giving instructions to goons to kill people and destroy property that belonged to the other ethnic groups in the Rift Valley. Every election cycle since has been accompanied by some degree of state violence. And again and again, Ruto has been part of the governments inflicting the violence. From the disappearance of ICC witnesses to political assassinations with bodies being fished out of River Yala in western Kenya, Ruto has somehow managed to find himself in the middle of it all. And yet, despite all this, Ruto continued to climb the political ranks to the presidency. The false promise of William Ruto Ruto narrowly won the 2022 national elections despite strong opposition from Uhuru Kenyatta, the president he deputised as Vice-President since 2013. Though many remained wary of the numerous charges of corruption and violence against him over the years, Ruto ran under the 'Hustler' banner and made great promises of reducing the costs of food and fertilizer, supporting small businesses, and bringing economic growth and prosperity to Kenya. None of these promises have been kept. Instead, since 2022, we have witnessed a government of wastage, looting, and wanton corruption. Kenyans are worse off than before, with many blaming Ruto for his failure to improve the economic conditions, his decisions to increase taxes, and his ostentatious display of wealth from fancy watches to Louboutin shoes. Ruto also plans to build a new church at his official presidential residence in Nairobi at a cost of $9.3 million—a decision that has angered many Kenyans. By the summer of 2024, the Gen Z Kenyans were fed up with the increasingly bleak economic conditions, the skyrocketing unemployment rates, and what they saw as the blatant looting of state resources as the political class and their children flaunted their ill-gotten wealth on social media. To pay back loans from the International Monetary Fund, Ruto introduced a finance bill in June 2024 to impose new taxes, which would increase the cost of bread, telephone and internet data, cars, money transfers, ride-hailing and food-delivery services, among other things. Young Kenyans believed the IMF loans had done little for the country and been siphoned off to service the lavish lifestyles of the ruling class. The rumble of discontent grew into the rapturous clap of thunder. Online, we congregated around the hashtags #RutoMustGo and #RejectFinanceBill2024. With one voice, the people were saying 'Enough!' Young Kenyans took to the streets; Ruto's police opened fire and killed close to 100 people. We huddled together and mourned our lost ones. Relentless police brutality Ruto pledged that there would be reform, that things would change but he continued to use the police to silence dissent: kidnappings and murders of government critics became a regular occurrence. The violence was meant to spread fear but it only created solidarity amongst these young people. After the custodial murder of the blogger, Albert Ojwang, they found a renewed voice by coming together. Ruto remains adamant the protests are planned to sabotage him and his presidency. His government has intensified its crackdown on dissent, arresting activists and charging protesters with anti-terror laws, seemingly an attempt to ensure there is little to no opposition to his abuse of powers. With Ruto still in control, there is little hope of reform and accountability. Each time I take a look at the Kenyan bracelet on my wrist, I am confronted with the possibility that Kenya might never be the same again after Ruto's presidency. I am scared of how deep the rot has gone, and the amount of work it will take subsequent governments to uproot it all. All systems may be too corrupted and we might need a full reset. And yet, as hopeless as this all sounds, I cannot afford to despair. Kenya has been here before—with the Moi presidency—and we managed to pull ourselves out of the quagmire and wipe everything clean and start again. So, we continue to push against the fear. We carry ourselves with the dignity of the warriors we've always been. We resist—even in the smallest of ways. When the brutal dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi ended in 2002, Kenyans sang of his riddance. One day Ruto will go too, and we will, with a resounding voice, sing of a hopeful future without him. 'Yote Yawezekana, Bila Ruto.' Anything is possible, without Ruto.
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Associated Press
Central African Republic rebels found guilty of war crimes by International Criminal Court
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — International Criminal Court judges convicted two leaders of a predominantly Christian rebel group in the Central African Republic of multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity on Thursday, sentencing each to more than a decade in prison. Former Central African Republic soccer federation president Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona and Alfred Yekatom, a rebel leader known as 'Rambo,' were found guilty of their involvement in atrocities including murder, torture and attacking civilians. The court sentenced Ngaïssona to 12 years, and Yekatom to 15 years. The charges stem from their roles as senior leaders in a militia known as the anti-Balaka, which engaged in bitter fighting with the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel group in 2013 and 2014. The interreligious violence left thousands dead and displaced hundreds of thousands. Mosques, shops and homes were looted and destroyed. Anti-Balaka forces 'attacked localities with Muslim civilians, killing and dislocating many of them,' Presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt said, reading out the verdict in The Hague. Malick Karomschi, president of the Muslim Organization for Innovation in the Central African Republic, a nongovernmental organization that supports victims of sexual violence, said that he's glad that justice has been served. 'We feared the worst — that they would be acquitted so the fact that they were found guilty is already a good thing.' Karomschi told The Associated Press. The pair maintained their innocence during the trial, which opened in 2021. It was the first case at the global court to focus on the violence that erupted after the Seleka seized power in the Central African Republic in 2013. The country has been mired in conflict since rebels forced then President Francois Bozize from office. Anti-Balaka militias fought back, also targeting civilians and sending most of the Muslim residents of the capital, Bangui, fleeing in fear. The trial of an alleged Seleka commander, Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, is ongoing. Last year, judges at the court unsealed another arrest warrant in the investigation. According to prosecutors, Edmond Beina commanded a group of about 100-400 anti-Balaka fighters responsible for murdering Muslims in early 2014. Separate proceedings against Beina and five others at a specially-created court are slated to begin in the Central African Republic on Friday. ___ Jean-Fernand Koena contributed to this report from Bangui, Central African Republic.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Former head of Central African football body jailed for war crimes
The former head of the Central African Republic (CAR) football federation, Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona, has been found guilty of committing 28 war crimes and crimes against humanity by judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC). He was accused, alongside Alfred Yekatom, of co-ordinating attacks against the country's Muslim population in 2013-14. Yekatom was found guilty of 20 charges. The judges gave their verdict after a trial lasting almost four years involving more than 170 witnesses and nearly 20,000 items of evidence. Ngaïssona was sentenced to 12 years and Yekatom 15 years. Violence has gripped the CAR for much of the past decade, but a recent peace deal led to the dissolution of two rebel groups this month. CAR was plunged into turmoil in 2013 when predominately Muslim rebels from the Séléka group seized power in the majority Christian country. A band of mostly Christian militias, called the anti-Balaka, rose up to counter Séléka after then-President François Bozizé was ousted. Ngaïssona and Yekatom were convicted of numerous crimes, including murder, torture and persecuting a religious group. The prosecution set out the alleged system of command, saying Ngaïssona provided funds and instructions to anti-Balaka groups in 2013 and 2014. Yekatom, nicknamed Rambo, was a commander who allegedly led fighters into the capital, Bangui, on 5 December 2013 where civilians were slaughtered. The prosecution said the pair's strategy was to make all Muslims their target, describing them as "enemies of the nation". Yekatom authorised his fighters to attack Muslim civilians, including to slit throats, cut off ears and bury people alive, the prosecution alleged. Asked to enter a plea at the start of the trial, both men rejected all the charges. Media reports at the time indicates that at least 1,000 people were killed in tit-for-tat clashes in Bangui in December 2013, and half the city's population fled in that month alone. Who is Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona? He was the self-declared political co-ordinator of anti-Balaka forces. Ngaïssona was barred from running for CAR president in 2015 because of his alleged role in the atrocities. He is a former head of the CAR's football federation and briefly served as sports minister before being elected to the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) in February 2018. His appointment was criticised by several human rights groups. "If the allegations were true, I wouldn't be here today," he told AFP news agency at the time. "[I don't] mix politics and sport - everything I've done has been for the good of my country." French authorities arrested him in December 2018 and he was transferred to the ICC in January 2019. Who is Alfred Yekatom? Yekatom was elected as an MP in 2016, despite being subject to UN sanctions. He was arrested in October 2018 after he fired a gun in parliament, then ran away, after a row with a fellow MP. His extradition to the ICC was the first from CAR. The International Federation for Human Rights (known by its French acronym FIDH) said it signalled the authorities there were committed to fighting impunity. More about CAR from the BBC: Grenade attack survivor sings for peace Central African Republic's road to anarchy Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica BBC Africa podcasts Focus on Africa This Is Africa
