On 6 January 1973, Njue was ordained to the priesthood by Pope Paul VI in St. Peter's Basilica. Returning to Kenya in October 1974, he did pastoral work in Kariakomu in the southern district of Meru. He also taught philosophy at the National Seminary of Bungoma, of which he later served as rector from 1978 to 1982. In 1982, he completed a course in spirituality in the United States. He then served as a parish priest in Chuka and rector of the Philosophical Seminary of Meru.
On 28 March 2013, he appealed for calm and peace during the upcoming Easter season as the Supreme Court of Kenya prepared to announce its verdict in the disputed initial round of the presidential election held on 4 March between Uhuru Kenyatta and Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Kenyatta and Deputy President-elect William Ruto were facing charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague that they instigated post-electoral violence in Kenya after the 2007 election.[5]
In June 2013, after US President Barack Obama, whose father was a Kenyan, said during an official visit to Senegal that African governments should follow the US example in taking action on gay rights,[8] Njue replied "Let him forget, forget and forget". He said that the United States has "ruined their own societies" and that he does not "think God was making a mistake when he created Adam and Eve".[9] A few weeks later, the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya, Archbishop Charles Daniel Balvo, alongside Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru of Embu, told a Catholic assembly that "The homosexuals should be defended against violation of their dignity and human rights, they are human beings like anyone of us."[10]
In March 2014, Njue advised against participation in a free government program to vaccinate women of reproductive age against tetanus. He said that targeting women was "fishy". Other critics suggested the program was a disguised form of birth control. Government health officials said they were accustomed to such rumors from the government's critics.[11] He led the Kenyan bishops in a campaign against the WHO-sponsored vaccination program, asserting that the vaccine was designed to lower fertility.[12]
In June 2017, at a celebration of Family Day, Njue criticized men who put roadblocks in the way of marriages by making exorbitant demands for payment from the groom's family (bride price).[13]
Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Archbishop of Nairobi on 4 January 2021.[14]
Notes
^His exact birthdate is apparently unknown. For years Vatican sources said he was born in 1944, but in 2024 began reporting his birth date as 1 January 1946.[1]
