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The Catholic Church in Uganda is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
According to the 2014 census, there were an estimated 13,407,764 Catholics in the country, comprising around 39.3% of the total population. [1] [2]
The first Europeans arrived in Uganda in 1862, when John Speke traversed the region in a search for the source of the Nile. European arrivals increased in the following years, and the White Fathers became the country's first Catholic missionaries in 1879. Their evangelization was effective, and the baptized population increased to 8,500 by 1888. The conversion of natives was met with hostility by Kabaka Mwanga II, King of Buganda, who saw the Christian religion as jeopardizing his authority. Catholic converts and those affiliated with the White Fathers were often arrested and put to death for their beliefs, their remains strewed across the land as a warning to anyone considering conversion. This persecution and violence climaxed in the killing of the Uganda Martyrs, when 22 Catholic converts were burned alive at Namugongo. Persecution directed toward the region's Christians slowed the arrival of missionaries during this time, and many left out of fear. [3] However, Uganda was annexed by the British in 1890, which allowed for more Christian influence in the country. The Mill Hill Missionaries and Verona Fathers were the most prominent Catholic missionaries in the territory during the following years. Mill Hill Missionaries mainly evangelized in Eastern Uganda, while the Verona Fathers converted people in the North. Efforts to convert the indigenous population were successful, and the population of all Catholics in the country grew to 86,000 by the year 1905, and 370,000 in 1923, representing roughly 12.4% of the population. [4] [5] Uganda's first native Bishop, Joseph Kiwanuka, was consecrated in 1939, where he served as Apostolic Vicar of Masaka. [6]
The Catholic Church celebrates on June 3 the feast of the Uganda Martyrs — Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions — who were killed by King Mwanga II between 1885 and 1887. [7]
In 2020, there were over 2,500 priests and over 4,000 nuns serving across 654 parishes; the church also ran 49 hospitals and homes for the old and infirm. [8]
Sir Apollo Kagwa (1864–1927) was a major intellectual and political leader in Uganda when it was under British rule. He was a leader of the Protestant faction and was appointed prime minister (Katikkiro) of the Kingdom of Buganda by King Mwanga II in 1890. He served until 1926. Kagwa served as regent from 1897 until 1914 when the infant King Daudi Chwa came of age. He was Buganda's first and foremost ethnographer.
The Protectorate of Uganda was a protectorate of the British Empire from 1894 to 1962. In 1893 the Imperial British East Africa Company transferred its administration rights of territory consisting mainly of the Kingdom of Buganda to the British government.
James Hannington was an English Anglican missionary and martyr. He was the first Anglican bishop of East Africa.
Charles Lwanga was a Ugandan convert to the Catholic Church who was martyred with a group of his peers and is revered as a saint by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.
Danieri Basammula-Ekkere Mwanga II Mukasa was the 31st Kabaka of Buganda who ruled from 1884 until 1888 and from 1889 until 1897.
The Church of Uganda is a member province of the Anglican Communion. Currently there are 37 dioceses which make up the Church of Uganda, each headed by a bishop.
Adolphus Ludigo-Mkasa, also known as Adolofu Mukasa Ludigo, was a Ugandan Catholic martyr killed for his faith.
The Uganda Martyrs are a group of 22 Catholic and 23 Anglican converts to Christianity in the historical kingdom of Buganda, now part of Uganda, who were executed between 31 January 1885 and 27 January 1887.
Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe was a Ugandan Catholic martyr and the majordomo at the court of Mwanga II of Buganda, recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.
Achilleus Kiwanuka, also known as Achileo Kiwanuka or Achilles Kiwanuka, was a Ugandan Catholic martyr revered as a saint in the Catholic Church.
This page is an index of lists of people considered martyrs. A martyr is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, refusing to renounce, or refusing to advocate a belief or cause as demanded by an external party. This refusal to comply with the presented demands results in the punishment or execution of the martyr by the oppressor.
The Archdiocese of Kampala is the Metropolitan See for the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical province of Kampala in Uganda.
Joseph Kiwánuka, MAfr was a Ugandan prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Rubaga from 1960 until his death.
The history of Buganda is that of the Buganda kingdom of the Baganda people, the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda.
Lubaga is a hill in Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. It comes from the Luganda word okubaga, describing a process of "planning" or "strengthening" a structure while constructing it. For example, okubaga ekisenge means to strengthen the internal structure of a wall while building a house. The name also applies to the neighborhood on the hill.
Muteesa I Mukaabya Walugembe Kayiira was the 30th Kabaka of the Kingdom of Buganda, from 1856 until 1884.
Mutebi Nnyonyintono Kiweewa was Kabaka of the Kingdom of Buganda from 2 August 1888 until 21 October 1888. He was the 32nd Kabaka of Buganda.
The Baganda also called Waganda, are a Bantu ethnic group native to Buganda, a subnational kingdom within Uganda. Traditionally composed of 52 clans, the Baganda are the largest people of the Bantu ethnic group in Uganda, comprising 16.5 percent of the population at the time of the 2014 census.
Henri Streicher was a Roman Catholic missionary bishop who served as Vicar Apostolic of Uganda from 1897 to 1933.
Buddu is a county (Ssaza) of the kingdom of Buganda in what is now Uganda.