Papal envoy Kasujja transferred to Belgium

The first black Papal Ambassador Archbishop Augustine Kasujja has been transferred from Nigeria to Belgium.

The Ugandan, who has served the Holy See for many years, was moved after six years of "meritorious service" in the west African nation.

He becomes the first non-European pope's ambassador to Belgium.

During Kasujja's time at the Apostolic Nunciature, the Catholic Church in Nigeria witnessed tremendous growth in both spiritual and pastoral activities, according to a statement from the Catholic Secretariat.

"For so many years the Vatican never had a native African ambassador. It was not until 1998 that an African was appointed as a representative of the Pope," read the missive.

Kasujja, 70, was ordained a priest on January 3, 1973 and was appointed Archbishop of the titular see of Cesarea in Numidia in 1998. He arrived to serve as Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria in 2011.

The late Pope John Paul II appointed him to be his ambassador to Tunisia and Algeria on May 26, 1998.

Just as Archbishop Dr. Joseph Nakabaale Kiwanuka rejuvenated Africa by pioneering the Black African episcopacy, Kasujja also regenerated Uganda and the African continent through this awesome attainment.

 But even before being appointed nuncio, Kasujja had spent most of his priestly years in the Vatican diplomatic circles.

He served in the Apostolic Nunciatures of Argentina, Haiti, Bangladesh, Portugal, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritius, among others.