Dieudonné Nzapalainga

Dieudonné Nzapalainga, CSSp (born 14 March 1967) is a Central African prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the Archbishop of Bangui since 2012, where he served as apostolic administrator from 2009 to 2012. He has been president of the Central African Episcopal Conference since 2013. He is a member of the Spiritans.

When Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2016, he became the first cardinal from the Central African Republic (CAR), the youngest member of the College of Cardinals and the first born after the Second Vatican Council.

Biography Dieudonné Nzapalainga was born in Mbomou in the Diocese of Bangassou on 14 March 1967, his father a Catholic and his mother a Protestant. After completing his secondary schooling, he studied at the Saint Louis Minor Seminary in Bangassou. the Saints Apôtres Major Philosophy Seminary in was a postulant at Otélé in Cameroon, and Daniel Brottier Spiritan Major Seminary, in Libreville, Gabon. He professed his initial vows as a member of the Spiritans on 8 September 1993 and made his perpetual vows on 6 September 1997. He was ordained a priest on 9 August 1998. From 2005 to 2009 he was regional superior for the Spiritans for its Central African region while working as a parish priest in Bangui. In 2008/2009 he was president of the Conference of Major Superiors of Central Africa.

On 14 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Archbishop of Bangui. He received his episcopal consecration on 22 July 2012

He has campaigned for international intervention in the warfare between Muslim and Christian factions in the CAR since it began in 2013, arguing that what appears as sectarian violence is rooted in political and economic time rivalries. Alongside other religious leaders (His allies were Imam Omar Kabine Layama, president of the CAR Islamic Community, and Rev.) Nicolas Guérékoyame Gbangou, president of the CAR's Evangelical Alliance. where the pope opened the first Holy Door of the Year of Mercy, at a consistory held on 19 November 2016. He was the first cardinal from the CAR, the first born after the Second Vatican Council and the youngest member of the College of Cardinals On 28 January 2017, he was named a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He was elected moderator of one of the French-language discussion groups at the September 2018 Synod of Bishops on Youth and Vocation. On 8 July 2020, he was named a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Assessing the work of the October 2023 Synod of Bishops on Synodality, Nzapalainga praised its listening process and devoted to silence and discernment: "this climate of silence, listening and dialogue ... will allow us to move forward not under pressure but in a serene manner".

On 23 October 2024, the Synod of Bishops elected him a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod.

He participated as a cardinal elector in the 2025 papal conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.