The

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in the lesser East African Indian Ocean states (not Madagascar) is composed of only a Latin hierarchy, without a proper

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...

but joined in a single

episcopal conference An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to ...

,
comprising five exempt jurisdictions, i.e. directly dependent on the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

: * three exempt dioceses (on

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

, Réunion and the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

) * two missionary pre-diocesan Apostolic vicariates (entitled to

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox ...

s) : one for the Comoros and

Mayotte Mayotte (; french: Mayotte, ; Shimaore: ''Maore'', ; Kibushi: ''Maori'', ), officially the Department of Mayotte (french: Département de Mayotte), is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is loca ...

; the other in above Mauritius. There are no titular sees. All defunct jurisdictions have current successors. There are also three papal diplomatic representations (in fact all vested in the apostolic nunciature (embassy) on Madagascar) : * an apostolic nunciature to Mauritius * an apostolic nunciature to the Seychelles * an apostolic delegation (papal legation) to the Comoros;
none to Mayotte or Réunion, as those depend on metropolitan

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

without full statehood.

Current jurisdictions

Episcopal Conference of the Indian Ocean (minor African East Coast Island states)

:''all Immediately subject to the Holy See'' * Mauritius ** Diocese of Port-Louis on

(also covers the British Indian Ocean Territory) ** Apostolic Vicariate of Rodrigues, covering part of Mauritius *

Diocese of Saint-Denis-de-La Réunion In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

on and for Réunion * Diocese of Port Victoria on and for the

* Apostolic Vicariate of Archipel des Comores, on the Comoros, also for

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org Comoros

{{DEFAULTSORT:List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...