Bishop of Lichinga
Bishop Atanasio Amisse Canira, Bishop of Lichinga, Mozambique, was born on 2 May 1962 in Mossoril, Diocese of Nacala. After completing primary studies, he attended Joaquim Marra industrial and commercial secondary school in Chimoio. From 1984 to 1986 he was a student at Mater Apostolorum propaedeutic seminary in Nampula. From 1987 to 1989 he attended Sant'Agostinho interdiocesan philosophical major seminary in Matola, and from 1990 to 1993 Saint Pius X interdiocesan theological seminary in Maputo. He was ordained priest on 12 December 1993 and incardinated in the Diocese of Nacala, the first priest of the clergy of that ecclesiastical circumscription. After priestly ordination he held the following offices: 1994-1996, pastor in solidum in Nossa Senhora da Paz Parish in Namapa; 1996-1998, sent to Rome for a licentiate in moral theology and spirituality at the Alphonsian Academy; 1998-2001, pastor of the Cathedral of Nacala; 2002-2007, spiritual director of Saint Pius X interdiocesan theological major seminary in Maputo; from 2008, pastor of Nossa Senhora da Purificação Parish on Ilha de Moçambique; and from 2010, vicar general of the diocese, episcopal vicar for the family, and national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Mozambique for the five-year period 2009-2014.