04/11/203
The Catholic Archbishop of Mombasa Boniface Lele, 66 years old resigned on Friday due to health reasons.
Reports show that Pope Francis allowed Lele to leave his post in conformity with Canon 401 and 2 of the Code of Canon Law which allows priests to resign under such circumstances.
There are no details about Lele’s illness or state of health but Father Wilybard Lagho, the Vicar General at the Mombasa Catholic Diocese gave a message saying, “Archbishop Lele wrote to the Pope seeking to be relieved off his duties on grounds of ill-health and this permission was granted,” without elaborating.
The permission was granted in a papal letter dated October delivered by the Pope’s representative to Kenya Archbishop Charles D Balvo.
It shows that Lele’s resignation will “take effect on November 1, 2013” and that before formal replacement of the departing archbishop, the bishop of Malindi The Right Reverend Emmanuel Barbara, who is also the Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Mombasa.
Bishop Lele took over the archbishop of Mombasa from John Njenga in the last eight years.
Archbishop Lele was the bishop of Kitui before been transferred to Mombasa.
A letter was issued though to all Catholic churches to give them details that they should not mention Lele's name in the Eucharistic prayer until another archbishop is ordained.