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Mwalimu’s canonisation underway, Rome says
2006-05-11 09:54:47
By PST Correspondent in Rome
The cause of beatification for Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, considered one of Africa’s greatest statesmen.
Nyerere was the president of Tanganyika (Mainland) upon independence in 1961 and after merging with Zanzibar, he became the first president of Tanzania.
The Catholic Information Service for Africa has confirmed that the diocesan phase of the process of Nyerere’s beatification is complete.
Nyerere (1922-1999) became president in 1961, and through the Arusha Declaration of 1967, he introduced a national policy for self-reliance based on the socialist model of co-operative village farms.
Critics blame his Ujamaa system for the country’s past economic woes. He voluntarily relinquished power in 1985.
Bishop Justin Samba of Nyerere’s home Diocese of Musoma is directing the cause of beatification, while Father Wojciech Koscielniak is the postulator and Maryknoll Father, Ed Hayes, the vice-postulator.
Father John Civille of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio, who has written a book on Nyerere, and Fathers Laurenti Magesa and Philbert Rwehumbiza are the theological censors involved in the process.
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