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The Catholic Church in Benin is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
In 2023, more than half of all Christians in the Republic of Benin are Roman Catholic. [1]
In 2020, there were an estimated 3.9 million baptised Catholics in Benin, or about 32% of the population, in ten dioceses and archdioceses. There were 1349 priests and 1482 nuns. [2]
The origin of the Catholic Church in Benin dates back to the effort of Irish and French missionaries of the Society of African Missions (SMA) to plant the seed of Catholicism in West Africa. The first venture by SMA to establish an African Mission in West Africa began in 1858 under the leadership of a Lyon based father, Melchior Joseph de Marion Bresillac. A member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, Bresillac had spent time in India and his desire for the new society was to spread the church and train Africans as priests to continue the work of the mission. The proposal was originally opposed by Pope Pius IX but with Bresillac's determination, the propaganda prefect approved the mission.
When the mission's objective was granted in 1856, Dahomey was chosen as location. [3] In November 1858, when the first group of missionaries sailed for West Africa, the location was changed to Sierra Leone as Dahomey was considered too dangerous. The missionaries consisted of two French fathers, Reymond and Bresson and one Brother. [3] The missionaries arrived in January 1859.
The news of their safe arrival reached Bresillac and in March, Bresillac and two other missionaries sailed for West Africa. Bresillac arrived Freetown in May 1859 but his expedition ended in gloom; Reymond and Bresillac died weeks after his arrival. Bresillac's assistant in Lyon, Augustin Planque took his position as Superior General, but unlike Bresillac, Planque stayed in Europe to provide support for the mission and to ensure credibility of the mission in the eyes of the pope.
A third missionary expedition was approved, the superior of the mission was an Italian priest, Father Francesco Borghero. In 1860, Father Borghero traveled to Africa to start new a mission in Dahomey. The missions' first location was at Whydah, the second Church was in Porto Novo and in 1868, the third location was Lagos. West Africa was treacherous for the missionaries, one out of four died as a result of malaria or Yellow Fever
In 1870, the name of the Dahomey mission became Apostolic Vicariate of Bight of Benin. The land was severe for the missionaries and the conditions of operations was not helped by the Franco-Prussian War which affected SMA's supplies and communication to West Africa. Then in 1883, Dahomey was carved out of the Bight of Benin Vicariate and Lagos became the headquarters of the Vicariate of Bight of Benin. [4]
The mission of Dahomey was separated from Benin in 1883 and made a Prefecture Apostolic, and then in 1901 a Vicariate Apostolic. On 13 May 1948, the name of the Vicariate Apostolic of Dahomey was changed to Vicariate Apostolic of Ouidah and the Prefecture Apostolic of Parakou was erected from part of the Prefecture Apostolic of Niamey's territory. The elevation of the Vicariate Apostolic of Ouidah soon followed, and it became the Archdiocese of Cotonou in 1955. [5] The Prefecture Apostolic of Parakou was elevated and became the Diocese of Parakou in 1964 and then the Archdiocese of Parakou in 1997. [6]
The Catholic Church in Benin gave one of its most esteemed bishops, Archbishop Bernardin Gantin of Cotonou, to the Roman Curia as Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Bishops and as Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals. He worked closely and was a personal friend of both Pope John Paul II, who brought him to Rome, and Benedict XVI, who spoke of him when he visited his tomb in Ouidah, Benin in November 2011, as part of a visit to that country. [7]
Archbishop Mark Miles was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Benin and Togo in 2021.
Within Benin the hierarchy consists of:
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Honolulu is the diocesan bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu in the United States, the Latin Church ecclesiastical territory over the entire state of Hawaii and the unincorporated Hawaiian Islands. The Honolulu diocese is a suffragan see in the ecclesiastical province administered by the metropolitan Archbishop of San Francisco. The Bishop of Honolulu is a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He has two ecclesiastical seats: the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace and the Co-Cathedral of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, both located in the City of Honolulu.
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 a promotion for a former apostolic prefecture, while either may have started out as a mission sui iuris. It is essentially provisional, though it may last for a century or more. The hope is that the region will generate sufficient numbers of Catholics for the Church to create a diocese one day.
The Apostolic Prefecture of the Marshall Islands is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or apostolic prefecture of the Catholic Church in the Marshall Islands.
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 usually has an (embryonal) see, it is often not called after such city but rather after a natural feature, or administrative geographical area, which may be a name in use by the local inhabitants, or one assigned by a colonial authority, depending on the circumstances under which the prefecture was established.
The Catholic Church in Togo is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
The Archdiocese of Niamey is a Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Niger. It is based in the capital city of Niamey and was erected on 28 April 1942. Pope Benedict XVI made it an archdiocese in June 2007. It performs the Latin Rite and covers approximately 200,000 square kilometres (80,000 sq mi).
The Archdiocese of Cotonou is the Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Cotonou in Benin. It is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province of Cotonou.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City is the Metropolitan See for the ecclesiastical province of Benin City in Nigeria.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos {Lagosen(sis) in Latin} is the Metropolitan See for the ecclesiastical province of Lagos in Nigeria.
The Archdiocese of Cape Town is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Cape Town, in the south-western region of South Africa. The principal church of the archdiocese and the location of the archbishop's cathedra is the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Flight into Egypt, which also serves as the patron saint for the archdiocese.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Osogbo is a diocese located in the city of Osogbo, Osun State in the ecclesiastical province of Ibadan in Nigeria.
The Society of African Missions, also known as the SMA Fathers, is a Catholic religious society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men founded by Melchior de Marion Brésillac in 1856. They serve the people of Africa and those of African descent.
The cathedral of Notre Dame de Miséricorde, commonly known as Cotonou Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral, located near the Ancien Pont bridge in Cotonou, Benin. It is noted for its distinct burgundy and white striped tiled architecture. Its tower stands towards the rear-end left side of the main building.
Melchior-Marie-Joseph de Marion-Brésillac, S.M.A. was a French Catholic prelate and the founder of the Society of African Missions.
Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in Western Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north; its short coastline to the south leads to the Bight of Benin. Its size is just over 110000 km2 with a population of almost 8500000. Its capital is the Yoruba founded city of Porto Novo, but the seat of government is the Fon city of Cotonou. About half the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Heliopolis (of Egypt) (originally of the Nile Delta) was a Catholic missionary pre-diocesan jurisdiction of the Latin Church in northern Egypt.
Leo Hale Taylor CBE, SMA was an American-born priest of the Catholic Church and member of the Society of African Missions. He was Archbishop of Lagos from 1939 to 1965. Taylor was the first principal of St Gregory's College, Lagos and as bishop, he was considered a pillar of support for the school.
Francis Carroll S.M.A. was an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church from Northern Ireland who worked as a missionary priest and bishop in Liberia.
John Collins, S.M.A. was an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church who worked as a missionary in Liberia for 47 years. He became a bishop in Liberia in 1934 and the diplomatic representative of the Holy See there from 1951 to 1961.
The Saint-Gall de Ouidah Major Seminary is a Roman Catholic Seminary in Ouidah, a Voodoo centre in the south of Benin. It is a training center for priests in Benin, and has hosted number of seminarians not only from Benin, but also Togo, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Niger, and Burkina Faso, including the Beninese politician Albert Tévoédjrè.
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