Huambo — The emeritus archbishop of Huambo, Dom Francisco Viti, died Saturday at the Cardio-Pulmonary Complex Hospital Cardinal Dom Alexandre do Nascimento in Luanda, after a 53-day internment, ANGOP has learnt.
The funeral statement received by ANGOP, states that the Archdiocese of Huambo guarantees the timely disclosure of the organizational aspects related to the funeral of Bishop Francisco Viti.
"In a moment like this, all of us Christians, of our Archdiocese of Huambo and beyond, keep in communion of prayers before the Lord of Life, in favour of the one who was our Archbishop emeritus, so that he may rest in peace", reads the statement.
The 89-year old Catholic leader had been fighting for his life since February after suffering a car accident, when the car he was driving overturned, while he was returning from a pastoral mission he performed in the south-eastern Cuando Cubango Province.
In the accident, he suffered serious injuries and was immediately transferred to the Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento Cardio-Pulmonary Hospital Complex, where he underwent cranial surgery two days later.
Biography of Bishop Viti
Born in Misasa - Evanga, Benguela Province, Dom Francisco Viti was born on August 15, 1933. He went to Minor Seminary of Quipeio, also known as Minor Seminary of Caála and at the Major Seminary of Cristo Rei in Huambo, with courses in Philosophy and Theology.
He was ordained priest on July 14, 1963, in the Cathedral of Huambo and consecrated Archbishop on September 28, 1975, in Huambo.
Founder of the Menongue diocese, where he worked for 11 years, he was then, in September 1986, named archbishop of Huambo, where he worked for 17 years.
The archbishop, who holds the title of second archbishop with more time in the archdiocese of Huambo and the sixth to be consecrated in the new era of episcopate in Angola, was rector of the Major Seminary of Cristo Rei in Huambo.
Trained in Philosophy by the Pontifical Gregorian University, Pastoral Theology, by the Catholic University of Paris, he had been a member of the permanent council of the Angola and São Tomé Episcopal Conference (CEAST) and of the Angolan delegation in the Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA).
Besides Portuguese and Umbundu, he could speak English, Italian, Latin, Spanish and French.
