Ex-SA ambassador to Vatican dies in Rome

The former South African ambassador to the Holy See, George Johannes, died suddenly on November 30 in Rome.

The 77-year-old was found dead in his room at the generalate house of the Missionaries of Mariannhill in Rome, where he had been staying since November 2021.

The leadership of the Mariannhill generalate told Vatican News that Ambassador Johannes did not show up for morning Mass in the chapel of the generalate as had been his custom.

“That day, he did not come for morning Mass and breakfast. When he also did not appear for lunch, the community became concerned. We knocked on the door of his room several times, but there was no response. Eventually, we opened his door, and we found him dead. We were shocked and very saddened. Ambassador Johannes was not just a friend of our community, he became a part of us and very often took one of the readings at Holy Mass. He hardly missed daily Holy Mass. May the soul of this humble and simple great son of Africa rest in peace,” Fr Patrick Chongo CMM, the generalate’s house superior, told Vatican News.

Ambassador Johannes had served two terms as ambassador to the Holy See, from 2009-14, and from 2017 to June 30, 2021. The Capetonian then remained in Rome to teach at a Pontifical University. At conferences, he shared his knowledge about life in Africa, especially about the philosophy of Ubuntu.

The late ambassador’s brother is Deacon Arthur Johannes of Cape Town, a lawyer. He grew up in a big Catholic family in Elsies River, a working-class coloured township in Cape Town. “We didn’t have much growing up, but we never went to bed starving,” George Johannes recalled in a 2020 interview with The Southern Cross.

He attended Holy Cross School in Parow and matriculated from Trafalgar High School before going into exile in 1970.

In exile, he became a full-time political activist for the African National Congress in 1976. He studied at Trinity College in Dublin and at the University College in Cork, Ireland, before attending the Universities of Reading and Leicester in England.

As an ANC activist, worked as a journalist with Radio Freedom in Luanda, Angola, and administrative secretary of the Department of Information and Publicity in Lusaka, Zambia, among other roles.

He returned from exile in 1995 and joined Nelson Mandela’s government in the Department of Labour as director for International Relations, before moving to the South African High Commission in London as political counsellor in January 1998. Before he was appointed to the Holy See, Mr Johannes served as the South African ambassador to Switzerland.

As ambassador to the Holy See, Mr Johannes was a tireless advocate for South Africa and Africa in the Vatican and at conferences in Rome. He was particularly active in Justice & Peace issues in Rome, including the peace mediation initiated by the Vatican in Mozambique and initiatives in South Sudan.

In June 2019, Pope Francis, with whom Mr Johannes had a good and constructive relationship, awarded the ambassador the prestigious Knighthood of the Order of Pope Pius IX. “My name is written into papal history, and no one can erase it. That for me is wonderful. It feels like a miracle for me because I never thought anything like this would ever happen to me when I was walking the streets of Cape Town.” Mr Johannes told The Southern Cross at the time.

“I have always had a very good rapport with Pope Francis personally, and he has told me his door is wide open. I can just walk through, if needs be, and I have used this opportunity to ask him to help us even more in South Africa,” he said. “I’m also able to move freely up and down in the Vatican, and I work very closely with the secretary of state and with all the institutions to ensure that South Africa’s name is written into history,” Mr Johannes told The Southern Cross.