Bishop Sithembele Sipuka Appointed New Archbishop of Cape Town

The archdiocese of Cape Town has a new archbishop! The Holy See announced on January 9 that Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Sithembele Anton Sipuka of Mthatha as archbishop of the archdiocese of Cape Town.

Bishop Sipuka will succeed Cardinal Stephen Brislin, who was transferred to the archdiocese of Johannesburg in January 2025. The cardinal had served as Cape Town’s administrator while the archdiocese was vacant.

Bishop Sipuka, 65, is the current president of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), and served as the president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) from 2019 to 2025. From 2001 to 2008 he was the rector of St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria.

He is a Church leader shaped by academic depth and pastoral formation, and a sustained engagement with the social realities of the country. He has repeatedly spoken out strongly against social ills, especially corruption.

In 2022, The Southern Cross published a far-ranging three-part interview with Bishop Sipuka, then the SACBC president.

Born on April 27, 1960 in Idutywa in the Eastern Cape, Sipuka grew up in nearby Butterworth (now Gcuwa), a region marked by both deep Christian roots and the structural poverty inherited from apartheid-era policies. Before entering the seminary, he worked for two years as a clerk in the Post Office, an experience that gave him insight into ordinary working life and influenced his later emphasis on the dignity of labour and service.

He entered priestly formation at St Peter’s Seminary, Hammanskraal, and St John Vianney Seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 17, 1988, for the diocese of Queenstown. He worked as a curate in Qoqodala for two years, and then as parish priest in Zigudu.

In 1992 Fr Sipuka was sent to Rome for further studies, obtaining a licentiate in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical Urbaniana University, followed by a doctorate in Theology from the University of South Africa.

Sipuka’s academic formation was never detached from pastoral concern. He taught philosophy and theology at seminaries for many years and, in 2000, was appointed Rector of St John Vianney Seminary. During his tenure, he became known as a formator who insisted on intellectual rigour, spiritual maturity and human integrity in priestly candidates. He retained this emphasis on formation as a bishop.

On February 8, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Sipuka bishop of Mthatha to succeed Bishop Oswald Hirmer, with episcopal ordination on May 3 that year.

As SACBC president, he helped articulate the Church’s response to national crises, particularly around corruption, governance, education and economic inequality. He has repeatedly stressed that corruption is not merely a political problem but a moral and spiritual one which erodes human dignity and the common good.

His leadership has also been notable for its ecumenical dimension. In October 2024, Bishop Sipuka was elected president of the SACC, the first Catholic to hold that position. The appointment was widely seen as a sign of growing trust across denominational lines, and of the bishop’s ability to speak credibly to a broad Christian constituency. He sees ecumenism not as a dilution of Catholic identity but as a shared Christian responsibility in a fractured society.

In 2019, he was appointed to chair the National Church Leaders’ Consultation. As in the SACC, he succeeded Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town in that position.

In 2025, Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Sipuka a member of the Vatican’s dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, recognising his long-standing commitment to dialogue in a plural religious context.

A recurring theme in Bishop Sipuka’s public interventions is concern for education and the moral formation of the young. He has spoken about what he calls the “spiritual displacement” of children, warning that educational systems focused solely on performance and productivity risk neglecting the formation of conscience, faith and community life. This concern reflects his broader vision of integral human development.

Bishop Sipuka’s leadership style is often described as calm, measured and reflective, yet firm when principle is at stake. Drawing on the African concept of ubuntu, he emphasises relationality — between persons, communities and God — as central to Christian life. His vision of the Church is one that listens, accompanies and speaks prophetically when required.

A date and venue for Bishop Sipuka’s installation as archbishop of Cape Town will be announced later.