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The Catholic Church in Kiribati is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, which, inspired by the life, death and teachings of Jesus Christ, and under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Roman curia in the Vatican City (in Rome) is the largest Christian church in the world. Koru Tito is Bishop of Tarawa and Nauru, with see in Kiribati.
Kiribati is predominantly Christian with a population of 119,940 in 2020: 58% were Catholic and Protestants from both Kiribati Protestant Church and Kiribati Uniting Church were 28%. [1]
The Constitution of Kiribati provides for freedom of religion. The Christian festivals of Christmas, Easter, and National Gospel Day are official religious holidays. [2]
Lying halfway between Hawaii and Australia, Kiribati consists of 32 low-lying atolls and one raised island in a vast expanse of ocean comprising three main groupings: the Gilbert Islands, Phoenix Islands, and Line Islands.
The original inhabitants of Kiribati are a Austronesian people who arrived more than 2000 BP. Invasions by Fijians and Tongans brought Melanesian and Polynesian influence. European contact began in the 16th century. In 1892, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu) became British protectorates. A British colony from 1916, and scene of bitter fighting during World War II, Kiribati became an independent nation in 1979. [3]
The first Catholics were locals who had returned from working in Tahiti. They invited the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) to come from France. [4] Upon the partition of the Vicariate of Micronesia, the Gilbert Islands were created as a separate vicariate by the Catholic Church in 1897. Mgr. Joseph Leray was placed at its head and, with other MSC priests, he began missionary work in the islands. [5]
In 1966, the vicariate of bishop Pierre Guichet was elevated to become the Diocese of Tarawa. In 1978, the name changed to Diocese of Tarawa, Nauru and Funafuti. This was split in 1982 into the Mission sui iuris of Funafuti and the Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru. [6] Bishop Paul Mea, MSC, was ordained Bishop of Tarawa, Nauru and Funafuti, Kiribati in 1979. [7]
The Sacred Heart Cathedral is in Teaoraereke, in South Tarawa, Kiribati. [8]
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. 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. In turn, 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.
The Catholic Diocese of Caroline Islands is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the Federated States of Micronesia and in the Republic of Palau. It is a suffragan diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Agaña. The Diocese of Caroline Islands is led by a bishop who pastors the mother church, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The Roman Catholic Apostolic Prefecture of the Marshall Islands is a Latin rite apostolic prefecture, in the South Sea Republic of the Marshall Islands.
The Catholic Church in Fiji is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the canonical authority and spiritual leadership of the Pope of Rome.
A mission sui iuris, or in Latin missio sui iuris ; also spelled mission(s) sui juris), also known as an independent mission, is a rare type of Roman Catholic missionary pseudo-diocesan jurisdiction, ranking below an apostolic prefecture and an apostolic vicariate, in an area with very few Catholics, often desolate or remote.
Nonouti is an atoll and district of Kiribati. The atoll is located in the Southern Gilbert Islands, 38 km north of Tabiteuea, and 250 km south of Tarawa. The atoll is the third largest in the Gilbert Islands and is the island where the Roman Catholic religion was first established in Kiribati, in 1888.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Suva is a Metropolitan Archdiocese in Fiji. It is responsible for the suffragan dioceses of Rarotonga and Tarawa and Nauru and —as of 21 March 2003—the Mission Sui Iuris of Funafuti. The archdiocese was created in 1966, to succeed the Apostolic Vicariate of Fiji.
The Roman CatholicDiocese of Tarawa and Nauru in Kiribati and Nauru is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Suva. It was erected as the Vicariate Apostolic of Gilbert Islands in 1897, with see in Tanaeang from 1936 to the end of 1950s, and later elevated to as the Diocese of Tarawa in 1966. There was a name change in 1978 and, in 1982, the diocese was split from the Mission sui iuris of Funafuti. The diocese currently has jurisdiction over all of Kiribati and Nauru.
The Mission Sui Iuris of Funafuti is a Catholic Latin mission sui juris in Tuvalu, Polynesia.
The Catholic Church in Tonga is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the leadership of its local bishop in communion with the Bishop of Rome. It is estimated that approximately 16% of the population of the Pacific island Kingdom are Catholic, being 15,767 in 2004.1 Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi succeeded as Bishop of Tonga in 2008.
Paul Eusebius Mea Kaiuea was a Kiribati Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of the Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru from 1978 to 2020. Mea was born in Gilbert and Ellice Islands and was ordained in 1969 a priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Mea was then appointed the parish priest of North Tarawa. His work brought him to the attention of French Bishop Pierre Guichet. In 1978 he succeeded him as the bishop of the diocese when it encompassed all of Gilbert Islands soon independent Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. In 1982, Tuvalu was removed from the jurisdiction of the diocese. In 2020, he became emeritus after resignation and was replaced by elected Koru Tito.
According to 2020 government statistics, Christian groups form about 96% of the Kiribati population by census counts, most of whom are either Catholic or members of the new Kiribati Uniting Church and Kiribati Protestant Church. Persons with no religious affiliation account for about 0.03% of the population. Members of the Catholic Church are concentrated in the northern islands, while Protestants are the majority in the southern islands.
Christians in the Gambia constitute approximately 3 percent (~136,400) of the country's population
The Catholic Church in Nauru is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, which, inspired by the life, death and teachings of Jesus Christ, and under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Roman curia in the Vatican City is the largest Christian church in the world. Bishop Paul Mea was Bishop of Tarawa, Nauru and Funafuti, Kiribati.
The Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (CEPAC) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church that includes the bishops of several islands in Oceania. The CEPAC is a member of the Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania, FCBCO.
Father John Ikataere Rarikin, M.S.C. was a Roman Catholic priest who served as the Ecclesiastical Superior of the Mission sui iuris of Funafuti since 2010 to 2014.
The Sacred Heart Cathedral is a religious building of the Catholic church that is located in South Tarawa on the atoll of Tarawa part of the island nation of Kiribati in Oceania.
Octave-Marie Terrienne MSC was the Roman Catholic bishop of the apostolic vicariate of the Gilbert Islands from 1937 until 1961, when Pierre Guichet succeeded him.