On this day, November 26, 1994, Pope John Paul II created 30 new cardinals during a solemn consistory in St. Peter’s Basilica, among them the Archbishop of Kampala, Most Rev. Emmanuel Wamala.
Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala became the second Ugandan cardinal in the country’s history. His elevation capped a long record of service.
At 67, Archbishop Wamala received the red biretta and the title of Cardinal Priest of Sant’Ugo in Rome. In 2005 he entered the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.
Born on December 15, 1926 in Kamaggwa in Masaka Diocese, he was ordained in Rome in 1956, earned a doctorate in canon law, and returned home to take up pastoral and administrative duties.
His assignments included diocesan school supervisor in Masaka, teacher at Bukalasa Minor Seminary, and chaplain at Makerere University, where he became the first Ugandan to hold the post. He later served as vicar general of Masaka Diocese, then bishop of Kiyinda-Mityana from 1981 to 1988, before his appointment as Archbishop of Kampala in 1990.
Respected for his humility, dedication to service and interfaith work, Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala is a retired Archbishop of Kampala, Uganda, whose distinguished service to the Church spans six decades.
Thirty one years later, the Catholic Church in Uganda continues to look back on the day Emmanuel Wamala joined the College of Cardinals as a moment of national pride and a milestone for African Catholic leadership.
