The Board and Members of SIGNIS Africa received with deep shock the news of the death of Bishop Bernadin Francis Mfumbusa. Until his death on Tuesday, April 14th, 2026, he was the Bishop of Kondoa in Tanzania.
In 2025, he was elected to head the Episcopal Commission of Social Communications (CEPACS) of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. On the 9th of April, 2026, the Holy Father, Pope Leo XVI, appointed him as a member of the Dicastery for Communication. Bishop Mfumbusa was a highly skilled communications professional who earned a Doctoral Degree in Social Communications from the Pontifical Gregorian University (2004-2007). He lectured in Media Ethics and served as head of the Department of Journalism at St Augustine University in Mwanza, Tanzania. Before his episcopal appointment, he rose to the rank of Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at SAUT.
He was noted for his innovative ideas on the means of social communication in the work of evangelization. He believed that the digital language of coding is indispensable for evangelization, just as the Latin language was in earlier times in the history of the Church.
During his one-year tenure as CEPACS President, he demonstrated great paternal concern for SIGNIS Africa’s well-being. He accompanied us to Rome for the Jubilee of the World of Communications, January, 2025, and to Mozambique for the SIGNIS Africa Workshop (March, 2025). We mourn with faith and commend Bishop Bernadin Mfumbusa to our Merciful Father and pray for the eternal repose of his soul.