Cardinal Zubeir Wako speaks to Eye Radio. (Photo: Awan Moses).

Gabriel Zubeir Wako, the first South Sudanese to be elevated to the rank of Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church speaks to Eye Radio about his life of sacrifice and service as he marks 60 years as God’s shepherd.

“I am Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir Wako, the Archbishop Emeritus of Khartoum,” said introducing himself in an interview with Eye Radio at his residence in Juba on Thursday.

“I was the Archbishop of Khartoum from 1981 until 2016. So, in my retirement, now I am celebrating 60 years of Priesthood.”

The son of a teacher hailing from Western Bahr El Ghazal State, Wako started his educational career in Nyamlel village of neighboring Northern Bahr El Ghazal State before joining the Seminary in 1951.

He was ordained Priest and earned the title of a Father, in 1963 among a group of five Seminarians who reportedly deserted.

– Journey to priesthood –

Cardinal Wako said he first became passionate about Christianity and priesthood due to the closeness of their home to the Church.

From a young age, he actively participated in the Church’s activities, and by doing that, many people in the area were already calling him “Priest”.

“I was taken to the Seminary in Bushore where I continued by studies until 1956, when we were taken to Tore River Major Seminary, in the district of Yei. That is where I spent 8 years studying until my ordination in 1963. We were five in our class”.

Mr Wako says he came to think about the name and subsequently told himself he could really become a Priest one day.

“It was in 1951 that I entered the Seminary, the Minor Seminary. At that time I was only 10 years old but because of the connection of our family with the Church and with the Priests in our Parish and later on also in Nyamlel.”

“Living in a family of that type, I began to see a lot of things in the Church. I couldn’t participate because I was too young but despite of that, I always join the services and also felt I could become a Priest.”

“Even at my age, the early age of 7 years and so on, people were calling me Priest, those who knew me and I grew up with that name that is how I asked to enter the Seminary, I said I want to be a Priest”.

That is not the end of Wako’s religious ambition because it is significant to understand how he later became a bishop.

In 1974, he was elected to serve as the Ordinary of Wau, replacing Bishop Erneo Dut who was appointed as Archbishop of Juba. He earned the title, His Lordship.

“Having served in Wau as a Priest under Bishop Erneo until the year 1974, then I was elected the bishop to replace Bishop Erneo Dut in Wau and Bishop Erneo Dut to move to Juba to be the archbishop here”.

In 1979, Cardinal Wako received another appointment from the Holy See, to move to Khartoum and serve as the city’s Archbishop – earning the title His Grace.

That was 16 years from when he was ordained a priest in Wau.

Meanwhile, his significant progress in religious life did not end with his appointment as Archbishop.

During a bishops’ Conference conducted in Germany in 2003, Cardinal Wako received a surprise phone call from Rome, Italy.

The call was to get his consent before making him a Cardinal, the second highest rank after Papacy in the Roman Catholic Church.

“How I became a Cardinal, I don’t know. It was in 2003. Our Bishop’s conference was meeting in Germany, in a small village in Germany, and then at 9 O’clock, I was sleeping, somebody phoned me, and I asked who are you?”

“He said I am Monsignor so and so, phoning you from Rome. Well, we are a bit disappointed because we have been looking for you for a long time, and now at last, we have found you.”

“So, I said what is the problem? He said the Pope has decided to make you a Cardinal. I said really. He said yes. So, what do you want from me now? We want to know whether you accept it or not.”

“So, I told them, well if the Pope has appointed me, I will have to accept it. He said, thank you because the Pope is going to announce it tomorrow and we thank God that we have succeeded to meet you tonight, so that is how I was appointed a Cardinal”.

Cardinals serve as the Pope’s advisors and are responsible for electing a replacement should a pontiff pass away or resign.

Due to their historical power and influence, they are still called the princes of the Church.

While it is widely understood how hectic and dangerous it was to serve during times of conflict, Cardinal Wako was not an exception.

In October 2010, Cardinal Wako survived an assassination attempt while celebrating Mass.

During the Mass, a man carrying a dagger ran toward the cardinal, but the cardinal’s master of ceremonies apprehended the man and took away the dagger.

The cardinal was not injured, and Hamdan Mohamed Abdurrahman was arrested.

So, Cardinal Wako had faced numerous challenges in his priestly vocation.

“We were ordained because of the difficult moments in July, in the middle of the year, we were to complete our fourth-year Theology as Priests and then we were sent to our dioceses in September, when already the situation was rather bad.”

“The security situation was really getting bad. Not only that, but the government had also already planned and decided to expel all foreign Missionaries from South Sudan.”

So in September 1963, Cardinal Wako decided to come to his diocese at a time when the Sudanese regime was expelling missionaries.

“We were there, young Priests without experience to take care of the faithful. Of course, the things we knew were religious things but not we had to get deeper into the lives of the people and our own life which was changing.”

“Many of our Parishes, all were practically lost. The only Parish working in Bahr El Ghazal was Wau. Then the Bishop struggled to maintain the Priests in Tonj, so we had to arrange a series of visits to the other Parishes now and then from Wau always.”

“That was a real problem because of the risks of being blown up on the road or being killed also on the road. Actually, the Bishop had been attacked several times as he was going out to visit the people, so it wasn’t safe”.

In 2016, Cardinal Wako retired and stepped down from his office after he clinched 75 years of age.

“In 2016, I resigned from that office because of the age limit. The Bishops can stay in office and be in charge of dioceses until they are 75 years old.”

“That is why I reached 75 years of age and I stepped down in 2016. I have been helping in Khartoum in these years until these rubbles in Khartoum broke out and I was advised to leave Khartoum. I said instead of going to Rome, I am coming to South Sudan”.

Due to the outbreak of war in Sudan, he was advised to leave the country and he chose to come to Juba, South Sudan instead of Rome, Italy.