Simon Ntamwana (born 3 June 1946) has been the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

archbishop of the Archdiocese of Gitega in

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Gr ...

since 1997. Ntamwana was ordained as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

on 24 March 1974 and from 1988 to 1997 he was the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

of the

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

Bujumbura Bujumbura (; ), formerly Usumbura, is the economic capital, largest city and main port of Burundi. It ships most of the country's chief export, coffee, as well as cotton and tin ore. Bujumbura was formerly the country's normal capital. In la ...

. In 1997 he succeeded Joachim Ruhuna as the archbishop of

Gitega Gitega (), formerly Kitega, is the political capital of Burundi. Located in the centre of the country, in the Burundian central plateau roughly east of Bujumbura (the largest city and former political capital), Gitega (the second largest city ...

. In 2009, he defended

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

over a controversy on the refusal to give any kind of approval to condoms in the fight against AIDS.

External links

Metropolitan Archdiocese of Gitega, Burundi
1946 births Living people Burundian Roman Catholic archbishops 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Africa 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Africa 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Burundi Roman Catholic archbishops of Gitega Roman Catholic bishops of Bujumbura {{RC-archbishop-stub