Catholic Church elects Monsignor Thawale as  Lilongwe Archdiocese administrator

Lilongwe Archdiocese has elected Vicar General Fr. Dr Patrick Thawale to run the archdiocese as diocesan administrator until a new archbishop has been appointed to replace the late archbishop Tarcizio Ziyaye.

Ziyaye died on December 14 2020 in Namibia and was buried on December 19, 2020. He died of Colon cancer.

The Pope is yet to appoint a new archbishop.

The election of a diocesan administrator is a fulfillment of Canon Law 421 (1) which states: “The College of Consultors must elect a Diocesan Administrator, namely the one who is to govern the diocese temporarily, within eight days from receiving notice of the vacancy of an Episcopal See and without prejudice to the prescript of Can. 502 $3.)”

The election took place on December 22, 2020 in the presence of Archbishop Thomas Msusa, President of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi and Fr. William Turnbull, Secretary for the College of Consultors.

The priests held a secret vote whose results showed that Thawale won.

“Through a secret ballot Monsignor Patrick Thawale was elected the Diocesan Administrator. In this case, we write to communicate to you that Very Reverend , Msgr. Patrick Thawale is the Diocesan Administrator of Lilongwe Archdiocese,” reads a letter co-authored by Archbishop Msusa and Fr. Turnbull dated December 22, 2020 and addressed to the clergy and laity of Lilongwe Archdiocese.