The Diocese of Laghouat () is a

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

ecclesiastical jurisdiction or

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

of the

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covering the sparsely populated

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

n inland of

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. It is immediately subject to the

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and not part of any

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

, and depends on the missionary

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. The

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

is found in the Pro-Cathedral of Ghardaïa in the

episcopal see An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

Ghardaïa Ghardaïa (, ) is the capital city of Ghardaïa Province, Algeria. The commune of Ghardaïa has a population of 93,423 according to the 2008 census, up from 87,599 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 0.7%. It is located in northern-central A ...

. The former

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

is the now-deconsecrated church of Saint Hilarion, in the city of

Laghouat Laghouat () is the capital city, capital of the Laghouat Province, Algeria, south of the Algerian capital Algiers. Located in the Amour Range of the Saharan Atlas, the town is an oasis on the north edge of the Sahara Desert. It is an import ...

History

The diocese was established on 19 July 1901 as 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 ...

() on territory split off from the then Apostolic Vicariate of Sahara and Sudan (now the

Archdiocese of Bamako The Archdiocese of Bamako is the Metropolitan Archdiocesan See for the ecclesiastical province which covers all and only Mali. It depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The cathedral seat of the archbisho ...

in present

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

), also a pre-diocesan missionary jurisdiction. It was renamed on 10 January 1921 to the Apostolic Prefecture of Ghardaïa in the Sahara (, .) On 28 April 1942, it lost western territory to establish the then

Apostolic Prefecture of Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. As the Niamey Urban Community (, CUN), it is a Regions of Niger, first-level division of Niger, surrounded by the Tillabéri Region, in the western part of the country. Niamey lies on the Nige ...

(now the Archdiocese of Niamey.) The prefecture was promoted on 10 June 1948 to an

apostolic vicariate An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

, entitled to a

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 an ...

. On 5 July 1954, it lost western territory again to establish the then

Apostolic Prefecture of Spanish Sahara and Ifni The Catholic Church in Western Sahara is part of the worldwide Catholic Church (particularly the Latin Church), under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. History Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony, and the Catholic faith was ...

(now named the Apostolic Prefecture of Western Sahara) The vicariate was promoted on 14 September 1955 to the Diocese of Laghouat.

Statistics

, it pastorally served 2,080 Catholics (0.04% of 4,902,760 total) on 2,107,708 km² in 10 parishes with 14 priests (3 diocesan, 11 religious) and 46 lay religious (20 brothers, 26 sisters) .

Ordinaries

Apostolic Prefects of Ghardaïa

*Cardinal

Charles Lavigerie Charles Martial Allemand Lavigerie, M. Afr. (31 October 1825 – 26 November 1892) was a French Catholic prelate and missionary who served as Archbishop of Carthage and Primate of Africa from 1884 to 1892. He previously served as Archbishop o ...

(''apostolic administrator'' 13 March 1891 – 25 November 1892) *

Charles Guérin Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

(1901–1910) *

Henry Bardou Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainment ...

(1911–1916) * Louis David (1916–1919) * Gustave-Jean-Marie Nouet, MAfr (28 April 1919 – 10 January 1921); ''see below''

Apostolic Prefects of Ghardaïa nel Sahara

* Gustave-Jean-Marie Nouet, MAfr (10 January 1921 – 1941); ''see above'' * Georges-Louis Mercier, MAfr (1941 – 10 June 1948); ''see below''

Apostolic Vicar of Ghardaïa nel Sahara

* Georges-Louis Mercier, MAfr (10 June 1948 – 14 September 1955); ''see above & below''

Bishops of Laghouat

# Georges-Louis Mercier, MAfr (14 September 1955 – 11 January 1968); ''see above'' # Jean-Marie Michel Arthur Alix Zacharie Raimbaud, MAfr (11 January 1968 – 25 June 1989) # Michel-Joseph-Gérard Gagnon, MAfr (4 February 199 – 11 June 2004) #* Michel Larbubu, MAfr (''apostolic administrator'' 29 April 2004 – 26 October 2004) # Claude Jean Narcisse Rault, MAfr (26 October 2004 – 16 March 2017) # John MacWilliam, MAfr (16 March 2017 – 25 January 2025) # Diego Sarrió Cucarella, MAfr (19 March 2025 — )

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org, with incumbent biography links - data for all sections

Diocese of Laghouat Website (''French'')
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laghouat, Roman Catholic Diocese Roman Catholic dioceses in Algeria Christian organizations established in 1901 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century