Meet Durban’s new cardinal
DURBAN’S new Catholic archbishop has arrived in town and a welcome celebration for him will be held today.
Archbishop Abel Gabuza is expected to be welcomed by over 5 000 Catholics at St Henry’s Marist College in Glenwood.
Gabuza was named by Pope Francis as a coadjutor archbishop for Durban following the resignation of Cardinal Wilfrid Napier in 2016.
Napier stepped down on his 75th birthday in line with canon law.
Gabuza, who is originally from Johannesburg, was the bishop of Kimberley and chairperson of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference Peace and Justice Commission.
This is the first time in southern Africa that the pope has appointed a coadjutor archbishop. This means the incumbent archbishop is given an assistant who has the right to succeed him on a date to be determined by Pope Francis. Gabuza said he appreciated the welcome messages he had received and that he was happy to be in Durban. He will administer the archdiocese of Durban together with Napier, who remains archbishop until the pope accepts his resignation.