Maurice Michael Otunga

Maurice Michael Otunga was a Kenyan Roman Catholic prelate and cardinal who served as the Archbishop of Nairobi from 1971 until his resignation in 1997. Pope Paul VI elevated him into the cardinalate in 1973 as the Cardinal-Priest of San Gregorio Barbarigo alle Tre Fontane. Otunga was the son of a tribal chief and denied taking his father's place so as to pursue a path to the priesthood after completing his studies at home and in Rome. He was made a bishop in the 1950s and then transferred to a new diocese at its head; he later was transferred to Nairobi and was a participant in the Second Vatican Council.