Pope Francis has named Monsignor Liberatus Sangu as bishop of Shinyanga, Tanzania.
The 51-year-old prelate succeeds Bishop Aloysius Balina, who died at the end of 2012.
Liberatus Sangu was born in Mwazye, Tanzania, in 1963 and ordained a priest in 1994. He studied sacramental theology at the St. Anselm Pontifical Athenaeum in Rome, and has held a number of pastoral and administrative roles, including formator in the minor seminary of Kaengesa, Sumbawanga; parish priest in Matai; director for vocations; formator at the preparatory seminary and head of youth pastoral ministry, and parish priest “ad tempus” in Sopa.
He currently serves as an official of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The Diocese of Shinyanga has a population of some 2,440,000, with around 745,000 Catholics. They are served by 55 priests and about that same number of religious. There are 20 seminarians.
It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mwanza and has 28 parishes.
