Meet Bishop José Luis Ponce de León: A Shepherd of Manzini

by Kati Dijane · June 20, 2025

Top: Bishop Luis with the Diocesan media team and parish priests of Florence Spiritual Centre in Manzini. Bottom left: Bishop Ponce de Leon with Kati Dijane at the Florence Spiritual Centre for the opening of the Rosary garden. Bottom right: The back cover of the June issue of Far East Rand Catholic News

By Kati Dijane – The latest issue of Far East Rand Catholic News features Bishop José Luis Ponce de León as the star of their back cover. In May 2025, Kati Dijane visited his Diocese of Manzini, the only diocese in Eswatini, and spoke to the missionary bishop.

Reflecting on his vocation, Bishop Pnce de Leon spoke not only of becoming a priest, but of accepting a call that came “as a package”, a life rooted in community, religious service and mission. His journey began humbly in Argentina, where a simple invitation to carry bread and wine to the altar as a young boy sparked something far greater.

Born and raised in Argentina, Bishop Ponce de León began his missionary path in his teenage years. By the age of 18, he had joined the Consolata Missionaries, a community he credits with helping him understand the Church’s call to mission. He trained in Argentina and Colombia before being ordained, and after seven years of serving in his home country, he requested to be sent abroad. “I joined this community to be sent,” he told his Superior General, fearful that the opportunity to serve beyond his borders might pass him by. That request took him to South Africa in 1994—just four months before Nelson Mandela became president.

His South African ministry also placed him in the Archdiocese of Johannesburg, where he served parishes in Daveyton—St Nicholas, St Lambert, St Martin’s, and St Monica. Later, in 2008, he was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Ingwavuma in KwaZulu-Natal. Then, in 2013, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Manzini, a role he has held since.

A vision for mission and collaboration

For the Bishop, mission is about joy and witness—what Pope Francis calls the joy of the Gospel. “What I came to discover through the mission was that Jesus is good news,” he says. He also shares that his role as bishop is not simply to manage a diocese, but to share that good news with everyone he encounters.

Remembering a legacy: Bishop Mandlenkosi Zwane

One of the hallmarks of Bishop Ponce de León’s leadership is his commitment to honouring the legacy of his predecessor, Bishop Mandlenkosi Zwane, the first Swazi and diocesan bishop of Manzini. Though Bishop Zwane served for only four years before dying in a tragic car accident, his influence is still deeply felt.

In 2016, the diocese launched the annual Bishop Mandlenkosi Zwane Memorial Lecture. Initiated by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace under Caritas Eswatini, the lecture series honours Zwane’s bold ecumenical and social justice work, particularly during the turbulent apartheid years and civil conflict in neighbouring Mozambique. Bishop Zwane played a key role in the establishment of the Council of Swaziland Churches—an ecumenical body that will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2026.

Subsequent lectures have tackled themes Bishop Zwane would have championed, from Laudato Si to peace, synodality, and ecumenism, with speakers including Cardinal Peter Turkson, Archbishop Dabula Mpako and Bishop Sithembele Sipuka.

A global church, a local heart

Bishop Ponce de León also reflects on the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, who previously served for two decades in Peru. “In such a divided world, these 133 cardinals were able to identify the person. That’s a gift of the Spirit,” he says. He finds inspiration in the Pope’s global pastoral experience and appreciates his roots in South America, which mirror his own.

Interestingly, Bishop Ponce de León also shares a personal connection with the new pope: both were appointed bishops by the same Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop James Patrick Green, (Archbishop Green was the Principal Consecrator at Bishop Ponce de León’s consecration and installation as Apostolic Administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Ingwavuma), Pope Leo himself was made a cardinal in the same consistory as South Africa’s own Cardinal Stephen Brislin in 2023, and Pope Leo XIV was elected on Bishop’s Ponce de León’s birthday, on 8 May!

Media, mission, and the modern church

A self-proclaimed member of the generation that transitioned from cassettes to smartphones, Bishop Ponce de León is candid about the Church’s slow but steady embrace of social media. “Initially, we looked at it from a distance,” he says, but during Covid-19, digital tools became essential. Armed with a simple phone and a modest internet connection, he recorded and edited weekly Masses from his device, sharing them with parishioners across the diocese. He praises the Vatican’s multilingual digital outreach, which tailors content for audiences around the world. At the same time, he encourages believers to use media platforms responsibly—to “share the best of who we are” and resist the temptation to spread misinformation or division.

Watch the interview with Bishop Ponce de León. If you are based in the Far East Rand Deanery, get your copy for R15.