The Catholic Church in Morocco, Mauretania and Western Sahara (which is occupied and claimed by Morocco; all three share a Franco-Spanish colonial past) is composed only of a Latin hierarchy (no Eastern Catholic),
without a single ecclesiastical province, as all are exempt, i.e. directly dependent on the Holy See, comprising :
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 several dioceses, one of them being the archdiocese, headed by metropolitan bishop or archbishop who has ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all other bishops of the province.
The Holy See, also called the See of Rome, is the apostolic episcopal see of the bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, ex cathedra the universal ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the worldwide Catholic Church, and a sovereign entity of international law. Founded in the 1st century by Saints Peter and Paul, by virtue of Petrine and Papal primacy according to Catholic tradition, it is the focal point of full communion for Catholic bishops and Catholics around the world organised in polities of the Latin Church, the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, and their dioceses and religious institutes.
Contents
- Current (Latin) dioceses
- (Regional Episcopal Conference of North Africa)
- (Regional Episcopal Conference of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau)
- Defunct sees
- See also
- Sources and external links
- two non-metropolitan archbishoprics, both in Morocco.
- a bishopric for all Mauritania
- an apostolic prefecture for all Western Sahara.
Neither country has its own episcopal conference either, but
An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to meet regularly, with its own legal structure and ecclesial leadership function, is the Swiss Bishops' Conference, which was founded in 1863. More than forty episcopal conferences existed before the Second Vatican Council. Their status was confirmed by the Second Vatican Council and further defined by Pope Paul VI's 1966 motu proprio, Ecclesiae sanctae.
- Morocco and Western Sahara are covered by the Regional Episcopal Conference of North Africa (in French: Conférence Episcopale Régionale du Nord de l’Afrique, abbreviated C.E.R.N.A.), with seat in Rabat (Morocco), further comprising neighbour states Algeria (Ecclesiastical Province of Alger), Libya and Tunisia (both entirely exempt), hence covering the Great Maghreb (wester region of the Arab world) except Mauritania.
- Mauretania is covered by the Episcopal Conference of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau (French Conférence des Evêques du Sénégal, de la Mauritanie, du Cap-Vert et de Guinée-Bissau), with seat in Dakara (Senegal).
Rabat is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. It is also the capital city of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra administrative region.
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. The capital and most populous city is Algiers, located in the far north of the country on the Mediterranean coast. With an area of 2,381,741 square kilometres (919,595 sq mi), Algeria is the tenth-largest country in the world, the world's largest Arab country, and the largest in Africa. Algeria is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east by Libya, to the west by Morocco, to the southwest by the Western Saharan territory, Mauritania, and Mali, to the southeast by Niger, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. The country is a semi-presidential republic consisting of 48 provinces and 1,541 communes (counties). It has the highest human development index of all non-island African countries.
Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, Niger to the southwest, Algeria to the west, and Tunisia to the northwest. The sovereign state is made of three historical regions: Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica. With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres (700,000 sq mi), Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa, and is the 16th largest country in the world. Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world. The largest city and capital, Tripoli, is located in western Libya and contains over one million of Libya's six million people. The second-largest city is Benghazi, which is located in eastern Libya.
There is an Apostolic Nunciature (embassy level) to Morocco (in national capital Rabat) and an Apostolic Delegation (lower level) to Mauritania (actually vested in the Apostolic Nunciature to Senegal, in its capital Dakar) as papal diplomatic representations, none for Western Sahara.
An Apostolic Nunciature is a top-level diplomatic mission of the Holy See, equivalent to an embassy. However, it does not issue visas, nor does it have consulates.
