{"id":6076,"date":"2020-04-14T15:36:13","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T15:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=6076"},"modified":"2020-04-14T15:36:13","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T15:36:13","slug":"legio-maria-pope-dies-aged-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/culture-and-art\/legio-maria-pope-dies-aged-96","title":{"rendered":"Legio Maria pope dies aged 96"},"content":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> The Legio Maria Church is mourning the death of its fourth pope, Romanus Ongombe.<\/p>\n

Thousands of church followers lit candles and held prayers in their homes across Nyanza region after news of their leader’s death broke out yesterday morning.Ongombe, 96, died on Sunday at Calvary, Got Kwer in Migori County, after a short illness. His body was transferred to St Joseph\u2019s Ombo Hospital mortuary.<\/p>\n

At Calvary where the church\u2019s late charismatic and controversial founder, \u201cMessiah\u201d Melkio Ondeto was buried in 1991, faithful dressed in flowing robes chanted \u201cAve Ave Maria\u201d as they prayed for the soul of the departed leader.<\/p>\n

Joseph Warambo, a senior official at the church, said they were already making burial arrangements for Ongombe, who has left behind seven children and several grand- and great-grandchildren. He said the leader would be interred at Got Kwer.<\/p>\n

Pope Ongombe has had a troubled reign at the church ever since he took over in 2004 from Pope Raphael Adika in a chaotic and controversial succession battle that has been dragging in court for many years.<\/p>\n

After Ondeto\u2019s death, Pope Timothy Blasio Ahitila took over the leadership of the church but died in 1997. The mantle was taken over by Pope Lawrence Chaiji, who passed it to Adika.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is true the pope has gone to rest with the Lord. He will be buried at Got\u00a0 Kwer,\u201d said Mr Warambo<\/p>\n

Issue statement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yesterday, Pope Adika said he was aware of the passing of Ongombe, but promised to issue a statement later in the week.\u201cRight now, I will not make any comment or statement over the death,\u201d Adika said.<\/p>\n

Ondeto, a charismatic leader, started the sect, with Ongombe being among his first converts.<\/p>\n

Last September, more than 20 people, including a priest, were hurt and several vehicles burnt in skirmishes at the holy hill over leadership wrangles.Armed police officers had to come in to prevent two warring camps from clashing further.<\/p>\n

In August last year, a High Court sitting in Migori declared Adika the duly elected pope while Ongombe was to be patriarch.Church religious sites, like Got Kwer, were ordered to be accessible to both sides.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the court ruling, Adika and Ongombe had tried to bury their differences that had gone on for more than 10 years, but they soon fell out after fresh differences emerged.Justice Anthony Mrima ruled that the sect\u2019s pope would be Adika, a position which was held by his nemesis Ongombe.<\/p>\n

Civil case<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adika and others had filed a civil case against Ongombe and others in 2009 and the two parties reached an agreement by consent.\u201cBy consent, the matter herein is marked as settled and Raphael Adika remains the only pope of the Legio Maria as per the church constitution as Romanus Ongombe resumes his role as cardinal of the church,\u201d the judge ruled.<\/p>\n

The court also ordered that members of the two opposing camps access every worship place, unite the church and promote reconciliation.The church was founded by Ondeto in 1960s as an offshoot of the Catholic Church, which incorporated African culture.Even though he died and was buried in an elaborate ceremony that lasted several days, many Legio Maria faithful still believe Ondeto never died since \u201che was not a human being\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya: The Legio Maria Church is mourning the death of its fourth pope, Romanus Ongombe. Thousands of church followers lit candles and held prayers in their homes across Nyanza region after news of their leader’s death broke out yesterday morning.Ongombe, 96, died on Sunday at Calvary, Got Kwer in Migori County, after a short illness. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,8],"tags":[2993,1078,2992],"class_list":["post-6076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","category-homepage-english","tag-legio-maria-church","tag-migori-county","tag-romanus-ongombe"],"yoast_head":"\nLegio Maria pope dies aged 96 - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Legio Maria Church is mourning the death of its fourth pope, Romanus Ongombe.Thousands of church followers lit candles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/culture-and-art\/legio-maria-pope-dies-aged-96\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legio Maria pope dies aged 96\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Legio Maria Church is mourning the death of its fourth pope, Romanus Ongombe.Thousands of church followers lit candles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/culture-and-art\/legio-maria-pope-dies-aged-96\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-14T15:36:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/28\/2020\/04\/zcfy1zepgv1dghefwnu5e9497c0b5e2a.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/culture-and-art\/legio-maria-pope-dies-aged-96#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/culture-and-art\/legio-maria-pope-dies-aged-96\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Legio Maria pope dies aged 96\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-14T15:36:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/culture-and-art\/legio-maria-pope-dies-aged-96\"},\"wordCount\":549,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/culture-and-art\/legio-maria-pope-dies-aged-96#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/28\/2020\/04\/zcfy1zepgv1dghefwnu5e9497c0b5e2a.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Legio Maria Church\",\"Migori county\",\"Romanus Ongombe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/culture-and-art\/legio-maria-pope-dies-aged-96#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/culture-and-art\/legio-maria-pope-dies-aged-96\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/culture-and-art\/legio-maria-pope-dies-aged-96\",\"name\":\"Legio Maria pope dies aged 96 - 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