The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Conakry ( la, Konakrien(sis)) is the Metropolitan See for the

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 ...

of Conakry, which covers all Guinea. It is of Latin Rite and depends on the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

. The Archbishop's is the Cathédrale Sainte-Marie, in the national capital Conakry.

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 130,152 Catholics (2.8% of 4,681,000 total) on 116,572 km² in 35 parishes and one mission with 64 priests (48 diocesan, 16 religious), 102 lay religious (36 brothers, 66 sisters) and 18 seminarians.

Ecclesiastical province

All other dioceses in Guinea are suffragan sees of Conakry: *

Roman Catholic Diocese of Kankan The Diocese of Kankan ( la, Diœcesis Kankanensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Guinea. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Conakry, yet de ...

Roman Catholic Diocese of N’Zérékoré Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

History

On 18 October 1897, the

Apostolic Prefecture An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of French Guinea was established on French colonial territories canonically split off from the Apostolic Vicariate of Senegambia (based in

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

) and the

Apostolic Vicariate of Sierra Leone The Archdiocese of Freetown (''Archidioecesis Liberae Urbis'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Sierra Leone. Its episcopal see is the city of Freetown, the capital and most populous city of the Afric ...

(in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

). On 18 April 1920, it became the Apostolic Vicariate of French Guinea. On 12 May 1949, it was renamed the Apostolic Vicariate of Conakry, having lost territory to establish the Apostolic Prefecture of Kankan, now one of its suffragan dioceses. On 14 September 1955, was elevated to a residential see, named the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Conakry. It enjoyed a Papal visit by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in February 1992.

Ordinaries

;'' Prefect Apostolic of French Guinea'' * Raymond-René Lerouge, Holy Ghost Fathers (C.S.Sp.) (9 March 1911 – 22 April 1920 ''see below'') ;'' Vicar Apostolic of French Guinea'' * Raymond-René Lerouge, C.S.Sp. (''see above'' 22 April 1920 – 12 May 1949 ''see below''),

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 ...

of Selge (18 April 1920 – death 2 July 1949) ;'' Vicars Apostolic of Conakry'' * Raymond-René Lerouge, C.S.Sp. (''see above'' 12 May 1949 – death 2 July 1949) * Michel-Jules-Joseph-Marie Bernard, C.S.Sp.(12 March 1950 – 18 July 1954),

of Ægeæ (12 March 1950 – 14 September); later Vicar Apostolic of Brazzaville (Congo-Brazzaville) (18 July 1954 – 14 September 1955), promoted first Metropolitan Archbishop of Brazzaville (14 September 1955 – 2 May 1964), later

Titular Archbishop 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 an ...

of Aræ in Mauretania (2 May 1964 – 15 January 1966), Archbishop-Bishop of

Nouakchott , image_skyline = Nouakchott.jpg , image_caption = City view of Nouakchott , pushpin_map = Mauritania#Arab world#Africa , pushpin_relief = 1 , mapsize = , map_caption ...

( Mauritania) (15 January 1966 – 21 December 1973) * Gérard-Paul-Louis-Marie de Milleville, C.S.Sp. (8 May 1955 – 14 September 1955 see below''),

of Dalisandus in Pamphylia (8 May 1955 – 14 September 1955) ;'' Metropolitan Archbishops of Conakry'' * Gérard-Paul-Louis-Marie de Milleville, C.S.Sp. (''see above'' 14 September 1955 – 10 March 1962), also Apostolic Administrator of Kankan (Guinea) (1957 – 14 December 1958); later

of Gabala (10 March 1962 – death 12 January 2007) as Auxiliary Bishop of Fortaleza (

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

) (1967 – 1984),

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic adm ...

Basse-Terre Basse-Terre (, ; ; gcf, label=Guadeloupean Creole, Bastè, ) is a commune in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles. It is also the ''prefecture'' (capital city) of Guadeloupe. The city of Basse-Terre is located o ...

( Guadeloupe, French) (29 January 1968 – 5 October 1970) * Raymond-Maria Tchidimbo,

C.S.Sp. , image = Holy Ghost Fathers seal.png , size = 175px , caption = The seal of the Congregation depicting the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Trinity. , abbreviation ...

(10 March 1962 – retired 13 August 1979), President of Episcopal Conference of the Guinea (1970 – 1979); died 2011. * Robert Sarah (13 August 1979 – 1 October 2001), appointed Secretary of the

(elevated to Cardinal in 2010) * Vincent Coulibaly (6 May 2003 to date)

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org, with Google satellite photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conakry, Catholic Archdiocese Roman Catholic dioceses in Guinea 1897 establishments in the French colonial empire Roman Catholic bishops of Conakry

Statistics

Ecclesiastical province

History

Ordinaries

See also

Sources and external links