Polycarp Pengo, a Tanzanian Roman Catholic prelate, died on February 19, 2026, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, at age 81.
Born on August 5, 1944, in Mwazye, in what is now Tanzania, he was ordained a priest in 1971 and studied moral theology in Rome, earning a doctorate in 1977. He taught at Kipalapala Theological Seminary and later became the first rector of Segerea Theological Seminary in Dar-es-Salaam.
Made a bishop in 1983, he served as Bishop of Nachingwea and later Tunduru-Masasi before becoming Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam in 1992, a post he held until 2019. He was made a cardinal in 1998.
Polycarp Pengo (5 August 1944 – 19 February 2026) was a Tanzanian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam, from 1992 to 2019. A bishop from 1983, he was made a cardinal in 1998.