DAR ES SALAAM — The Catholic Church’s cause for the beatification of Tanzania’s founding president, Julius Kambarage Nyerere, has entered a crucial stage, with church authorities now interrogating witnesses about his life, faith and reputation for holiness.
Bishop Henry Mchamungu, the episcopal delegate overseeing the cause, said the diocesan tribunal is currently collecting detailed testimony from people who knew Nyerere and can provide evidence concerning his character, Christian faith and virtues.
“We are in the process of interrogating witnesses,” Mchamungu told ACI Africa on the sidelines of the 21st AMECEA Plenary Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya.
“This is a very important stage because we have to ask people many questions to obtain sufficient information about the life, virtues, and faith of Mwalimu Nyerere.”
The bishop said witnesses undergo detailed questioning, with some sessions involving as many as 30 or 40 questions.
“We have to listen to many witnesses because we need to gather enough evidence concerning his life and his virtues,” he said.
The development marks renewed momentum in a process that has experienced periods of inactivity and administrative changes since it was formally launched more than two decades ago.
From president to Servant of God
Nyerere, Tanzania’s first president and a central figure in Africa’s post-independence history, was declared Servant of God by Pope Benedict XVI on May 13, 2005, following the opening of his cause for canonization.
The process was initiated after the late Bishop Justin Samba of the Diocese of Musoma, together with the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), petitioned the Holy See to begin the investigation into Nyerere’s life and reputation for holiness.
The cause was subsequently transferred from the Diocese of Musoma to the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam.
On May 2, 2014, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued a rescript authorizing the transfer of the competent forum for the diocesan inquiry.
According to Bishop Mchamungu, however, progress slowed after the transfer, partly because then-Archbishop of Dar es Salaam Cardinal Polycarp Pengo experienced prolonged health challenges.
Cause revived in 2023
The process gained renewed momentum in 2023 when the president of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference appointed a new postulator — the official responsible for guiding the cause.
The first postulator later stepped down for personal reasons, requiring the Church to identify a replacement.
The responsibility was eventually taken up by Nairobi-based Brother Reginald D. Cruz, who agreed to continue supporting the process despite living outside Tanzania.
“In 2023, it became necessary to revive the cause again,” Mchamungu said.
“Although he does not live in Tanzania, he agreed to help us continue with the cause.”
The bishop acknowledged that the diocesan tribunal faces practical challenges because its members also have regular pastoral responsibilities.
“Everyone has other pastoral duties. Therefore, finding time to meet and conduct the sessions is not easy,” he said.
“However, the cause is continuing after having remained inactive for a long time.”
Church seeks evidence of heroic virtue
The witness stage is significant because the Church must establish, through evidence, the candidate’s reputation for holiness and the practice of Christian virtues before the cause can advance through the wider canonization process.
Mchamungu urged Catholics and others who believe they have received extraordinary graces through Nyerere’s intercession to report them to the tribunal.
“If someone receives a grace through his intercession, that person should inform the tribunal so that it can be investigated and recorded,” he said.
Such evidence, if properly investigated and authenticated, could eventually become relevant to the Church’s consideration of Nyerere’s beatification and possible canonization.
“We continue asking God that the cause may continue,” Mchamungu said. “The day will come, God willing, when he will be declared blessed.”
Nyerere’s Catholic formation
The inquiry is also examining Nyerere’s formative years and his relationship with the Catholic Church before his rise to political leadership.
Bishop Mchamungu recalled that Nyerere worked as a teacher before entering politics and taught at St. Francis Secondary School in Pugu, a school run by the Holy Ghost Fathers.
His early association with Catholic education and formation forms part of the broader historical context being considered as the Church examines his life, faith and virtues.
Nyerere died in London on October 14, 1999, aged 77.
His political legacy remains deeply associated with Tanzania’s independence, the construction of a unified Tanzanian national identity and the philosophy of Ujamaa, while his personal life and Catholic faith have continued to attract interest within and beyond Tanzania.
For the Church, however, the current inquiry is focused on a different question: whether the evidence demonstrates a life lived with the degree of Christian virtue required for the cause to progress toward beatification.
For now, the tribunal continues its painstaking work — witness by witness, testimony by testimony — as the Catholic Church examines whether Tanzania’s founding president could one day be formally recognized among the blessed.
