Pope Leo XIV appoints Jesuits as Bishop in Honolulu, Coadjutor Archbishop in Bangui
New Bishop of Honolulu, USA
The Holy Father has appointed Fr Michael T. Castori, SJ, as the new bishop of Honolulu.
Born on 21 October 1960 in Sacramento, California, Fr Castori entered the Society of Jesus in August 1987 and was ordained a priest on 13 June 1998.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in classics from Harvard University (1982) and other advanced degrees, including a doctorate in Near Eastern religions from the University of California, Berkeley (2008).
Over nearly four decades, Bishop-elect Castori has served in different roles including as a prison chaplain in Fiji and California, hospital chaplain in New York and as a pastoral minister in the Pacific Islands where he worked with Tongan communities. He has also held several teaching positions, including as an assistant professor at Santa Clara University (2008-2013) and at the East Asian Pastoral Institute in Ateneo de Manila in the Philippines (2011).
Before being appointed as Bishop, Fr Castori was serving as the rector of the Arrupe Jesuit Residence at Seattle University in Seattle, USA. His episcopal ordination and installation will take place on 28 July at the Co-Cathedral of St Theresa in Honolulu.
Bangui, Central African Republic
Pope Leo XIV has also appointed Fr Joseph Samedi, SJ, as Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Bangui in the Central African Republic.
Fr Samedi was born on 20 December 1971 in Mongoumba, Central African Republic. He joined the Jesuits on 22 September 1995. After his novitiate in Bafoussam, Cameroon, he studied philosophy at the St Pierre Canisius Faculty of Philosophy in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and theology in Brussels, Belgium. He subsequently obtained a Licentiate in Church History at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on 6 August 2006.
Throughout his ministry, Fr Samedi has served in several roles: Librarian and Vicar at the French-speaking Parish of Bangui (2008-2009); Formator at the National Major Seminary of Saint Mark in Bangui (2009-2018); ad tempus Superior of the Society of Jesus in Bangui and coordinator for the ongoing formation of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Bangui (2011-2018); and Director of the Lycée Collège St Charles Lwanga in Sarh, Chad (2018-2024).
Until now, Fr Samedi was the Director of the Pope Francis School Complex and the Jesuit Superior in Bangui.
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