Kathmandu: Bishop Anthony Francis Sharma, the first Catholic bishop of Nepal, died on Tuesday in Kathmandu. He was 78.
The Jesuit prelate was suffering from various illnesses for some time. He died at 11:40 pm at St. Xavier’s Jesuit Residence in Jawalakhal, Lalitpur, a suburb of Kathmandu, capital of Nepal.
His funeral is scheduled at 12:30 pm on December 10 at the Church of Assumption, Dhobighat, Kathmandu.
Bishop Sharma was born on December 20, 1937, in Kathmandu. He was the first ethnic Nepalese to be ordained a Jesuit priest on May 4, 1968. The Vatican designated Nepal as Missio Sui Iuris (self governing mission) and appointed Monsignor Sharma as the first Ecclesiastical Superior of Nepal on December 8, 1984.
The country was later elevated to an apostolic prefecture, and Monsignor Sharma became Nepal’s first Apostolic Prefect on February 12, 1997.
Pope Benedict XVI has raised the local Church of Nepal to the status of a Vicariate on February 10, 2007 and appointed Monsignor Anthony Sharma as the first Vicar Apostolic, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of bishop.
His episcopal ordination took place on May 5, 2007, at Kathmandu Assumption Church.
Bishop Anthony Sharma also served as the president of Caritas Nepal and patron of the Nepal Catholic Society.
He was a priest for 47 years and a bishop for eight years.
Fr Roy Sebastian, a Jesuit priest in Nepal, said Bishop Sharma was like a grandfather, affectionate and always smiling. He said his parents were surprised at the prelate’s simplicity of welcoming guests to his Episcopal ordination, waiting at the church door.
“He was a shepherd at the level of his flock,” he wrote in his Facebook page on December 9. According to him, people will miss the company of Bishop Sharma, who had a unique way of telling stories of Nepal.