The Catholic Church in

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

is part of the worldwide

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 ...

, under the spiritual leadership of the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. It is endowed with the right to elect its own clergy, except archbishops. There are over 600,000 Catholics in Gabon - almost half the population divided in five major congregations. There are five

diocese 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 associa ...

s including one archdiocese, plus an apostolic vicariate.

History

The Catholic Church had its big first French missionary in Gabon Jean- Rémi Bessieux, from the

Congregation of the Holy Spirit , 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 ...

in the first half of the 19th century. In 1863 was born the Apostolic vicariate of Gabon, then called from the Two Guineas. Only after the 1878 began the evangelization of the hinterland. In 1958 Gabon becomes an

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 ...

, with an autonomous Metropolitan see in Libreville, in 1899 the first priest was ordained in Gabon, and in 1961 was ordered the first bishop. In 1982 the Catholic Church received a pastoral visit of

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 ...

. On December 12, 1997

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 ...

and the Republic of Gabon signed an agreeing on the principles and some legal provisions concerning their relationship and their collaboration.

Ecclesiastical organization

The Catholic Church is present in Gabon with one

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 ...

, four suffragan dioceses and one

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 ...

: *

Archdiocese of Libreville The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Libreville ( French: ''Archidiocèse catholique romain de Libreville'') is the Metropolitan See of the Latin Ecclesiastical province covering all Gabon. Its cathedral episcopal see is the Cathédrale Notre Dam ...

* Diocese of Franceville *

Diocese of Mouila The Roman Catholic Diocese of Mouila ( la, Muilaën(sis), French: ''Diocèse catholique romain de Mouila'') is a diocese located in the city of Mouila in the ecclesiastical province of Libreville in Gabon. History * 11 December 1958: Established ...

* Diocese of Oyem * Diocese of Port-Gentil *

Apostolic Vicariate of Makokou The Apostolic Vicariate of Makokou is the last Roman Catholic missionary jurisdiction in Gabon, Equatorial Africa, as the rest of the country forms the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Libreville. The vicariate is directly ...

Statistics

At the end of 2013 the Catholic Church in Gabon counted: * 82 parishes; * 188 priests; * 2 permanent deacons; * 175 religious sisters; * 139 religious brothers; * 245 schools; * 18 charities. The Catholic population amounted to 822,930 adherents, equal to 51.08 % of a total national population of 1,611,200.

References

External links

*http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/country/GA.htm *http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/ga.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20120713090802/http://www.eglisecatholique.ga/fr/index.php {{DEFAULTSORT:Catholic Church in Gabon