South Sudan: Remembering Bishop Mazzolari 'through thick and thin'

Bishop Cesare Mazzolari

Tributes have been paid to a bishop in what is now South Sudan who has died after leading his people through one of Africa's worst conflicts. Italian-born Bishop Cesare Mazzolari, who died on Saturday, 16 July, aged 74, was appointed to Rumbek diocese in the middle of Sudan's 21-year civil war, a conflict which left more than 2.5 million people dead and forced millions of others to flee their homes.

South Sudan who has died after leading his people through one of Africa's worst conflicts. Italian-born Bishop Cesare Mazzolari, who died on Saturday, 16 July, aged 74, was appointed to Rumbek diocese in the middle of Sudan's 21-year civil war, a conflict which left more than 2.5 million people dead and forced millions of others to flee their homes.

As Rumbek and the surrounding area came under ongoing aerial bombardment, Bishop Mazzolari, a Comboni missionary, risked his own life, at one point being kidnapped by rebel fighters for 24 hours.

Soon after becoming Apostolic Administrator for Rumbek in 1990, he re-opened mission centres devastated by war and helped organise humanitarian assistance for thousands of refugees as well as negotiating freedom for slaves and child soldiers.

Named Bishop of Rumbek in 1999, he continued to grapple with the effects of widespread violence and deprivation, which continued after the 2003-4 ceasefire period when thousands of refugees flooded in from Darfur.

Living long enough to see independence for South Sudan from the north earlier this month, he died apparently of a heart attack while concelebrating at a Mass in his diocese.

Paying tribute to Bishop Mazzolari, Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kassala of neighbouring Tambura-Yambio diocese recalled being one of his students in the 1980s in Yambio. In a message sent to Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Hiiboro wrote: "Bishop Mazzolari carried us through thick and thin. He was a dear man - gracious, gentle and humble. His contribution towards an independent Republic of South Sudan cannot be questioned."

Aid to the Church in Need also received a communiqué from Rumbek diocese, in which priests, religious and faithful described being "shocked and deeply saddened" by the bishop's death. It reads: "His fatherly care and compassion, generosity and selflessness were sources of hope and comfort to all those he encountered. Over the years, we have been inspired by his dreams for the people of South Sudan.

"His pastoral initiatives, his extraordinary administrative ability, his competence in leadership, his energy for fundraising and development, his simple life-style and humility, his tenacity and patience and his unwavering dedication to God."

Regina Lynch, Aid to the Church in Need's director of projects, underlined the charity's long commitment to helping Bishop Mazzolari with the overwhelming pastoral needs of the diocese amid continuing crises. She said: "It took somebody with his courage and his energy to respond to a situation which was really very difficult, especially before the [2005] peace agreement [which officially ended the civil war. A lesser person would never have been able to manage it."

Aid to the Church in Need's support for projects backed by Bishop Mazzolari included repairing churches bombed during the war, rebuilding a seminary school in Mapuordit which had been abandoned, funding a vehicle for the Healing the Healers counselling programme for war trauma victims as well as Mass stipends for priests in Rumbek diocese.

The charity also funded aeroplane flights so the bishop could travel to distant parts of his enormous diocese where roads were very poor as well as constructing homes for religious Sisters starting afresh in parishes decimated by violence.

Born in Brescia on 9th February 1937, Cesare Mazzolari was ordained a priest in San Diego, USA, on 17th March 1962. He spent 19 years working among African-American and Mexican mine workers. In 1981, the Comboni Congregation sent him to Tombura-Yambio diocese where he worked in Nzara parish as a curate and became a sought-after Spiritual Director at St Joseph's Minor Seminary at Rimenze, Yambio. From there, he went to Juba to serve as Comboni Provincial of Southern Sudan for six years.

Pope John Paul II appointed him apostolic administrator of Rumbek in 1990, and he was consecrated bishop in January 1999.

Pope Benedict XVI sent a message of condolence, thanking God for Bishop Mazzolari's "lifelong dedication as a Comboni missionary and for his selfless service to the people of Africa".

Source: ACN