Cardinal John Njue has resigned from his role as the archbishop of Nairobi Diocese.
Pope Francis press service, Holy See Press Service, announced that the Cardinal had tendered in his resignation which was accepted by the Holy Father.
Njue has served in the position since 2007.
After the resignation, however, Njue will retain the title of Cardinal.
Nairobi Auxiliary Bishop Rt. Rev. David Kamau was appointed as the Apostolic Administrator of Nairobi Archdiocese and has been serving in the Archdiocese since December 1999.
The Cardinal tendered in his resignation after he attained the mandatory retirement age for Bishops (75), as stipulated by Catholic Church's Canon 401 in the Code of Canon Law.
"A diocesan bishop who has completed the seventy-fifth year of age is requested to present his resignation from office to the Supreme Pontiff, who will make provision after he has examined all the circumstances," the dictum states.
Some Bishops, however, tender their resignation before attaining the age of seventeen five years.
He was born in 1944 at Kiriari, Embu District, Kenya and was ordained a priest by Pope Paul VI on January 6, 1973.
The Cardinal, who holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical Urbaniana University, was appointed as a philosophy professor and dean of students at St. Augustine Senior Seminary, Mabanga in Bungoma.
In 1982, he was appointed to Chuka Parish as its first African parish priest. He then served as rector of St. Joseph’s Philosophicum Seminary in Nairobi until his appointment on 9 June 1986 as the first Bishop of Embu.
Njue was ordained bishop on 20 September of that year and then coadjutor Archbishop of Nyeri on 23 January 2002. From 2005-2006, he was Apostolic Administrator of the Vicariate of Isiolo. He was also Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Murang’a (2006-2009).
He was appointed Archbishop of Nairobi on October 6, 2007.
He has served as the chairman of various commissions, such as the Episcopal commission for major seminaries in Kenya and the Kenya Episcopal Conference’s Justice and Peace Commission.
