AFRICA/KENYA-Appointment of the Bishop of Malindi

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father Benedict XVI appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Malindi (Kenya) Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Barbara, O.F.M. Cap, Provincial Minister of P.P. Capuchins in Malta and President of the European Capuchin on July 9, 2011.
Fr. Emmanuel Barbara, O.F.M.Cap., was born on October 27, 1949, in the parish of Gzira, in the Archdiocese of Malta. On 19 September 1965 he entered the novitiate; on September 26, 1966 he professed his first religious profession. After finishing his studies in Malta, he was ordained deacon on August 5, 1973 and ordained a priest on July 20, 1974, in the Co-cathedral de la Valletta in Malta. After ordination he has held the following positions: 1974-1976: Vicar priest at San Gwann, in Malta; 1976-1978: Studies for the Licentiate in Moral Theology at the Alfonsianum; 1976-1989: Teacher at INSERM (National Institutum Studiorum Ecclesiasticorum Religiosorum Melitensium), Malta; 1978-1980: Chaplain at St. Luke's Hospital in Malta; 1980-1983: local Superior in Xemxija, Malta; 1981-1983: Rector of INSERM, Malta; 1983-1989: Provincial Minister, Malta; 1990-1996: Director of Formation, Nairobi, Kenya; 1990-1992: Caretaker of the formation house in Lang'ata, Kenya; 1990-1992: Professor at Tangaza College, Nairobi; 1992-1994: Studies for a doctorate in Moral Theology at the Alfonsianum in Rome; 1994-1999: Professor at Tangaza College, Nairobi; 1996-1999: First Vice-Provincial of Kenya; 1999-2008: Professor of the Faculty of Moral Theology at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa ( CUEA), Nairobi; since 2008: he returned to Malta where he has been the Spiritual Director in a secondary school, and at the same time a teacher young religious foreigners in Malta; since 2010: Provincial Minister for the Province of Malta, and even President of the European Capuchins Conference (CENOC).
The Diocese of Malindi, built in 2000, is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mombasa, it has an area of 33,254 square kilometers and a population of 539,000 inhabitants, of whom 25,509 are Catholic. There are 17 parishes, 35 priests (11 diocesan and 24 religious), 30 religious brothers, 44 nuns and 8 major seminarians. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 09/07/2011)