Laurean Rugambwa, the first African Roman Catholic Church cardinal, succumbs at 85

Jet, Jan 12, 1998

Laurean Cardinal Rugambwa, who in 1960 became the first African cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, died in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. He was 85.

Born to noble family from the Nsiba tribe in Bukongo, in what was then Tanganyika, Rugambwa was baptized by missionaries when he was 8, along with the rest of his family. In 1943, after he attended a seminary in Uganda, Rugambwa was ordained a priest, and after he worked as a missionary in western Africa for several years, he went to Rome to study canon law.

He was made bishop in 1951, and upon returning to Tanzania in 1952, he became the country's first indigenous bishop, serving the diocese of Rutabo. In 1968 he was made Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam, relinquishing those duties in 1992 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 80.

The Catholic Church in Africa has been growing steadily in size and influence in the past 40 years, and, according to Vatican estimates, is now home to 100 million Catholics. There are now 11 African cardinals.