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The Catholic Church in Libya is part of the worldwide Catholic Church (particularly the Latin Church), under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
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The Catholic Church in Libya is part of the worldwide Catholic Church (particularly the Latin Church), under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
Among the Catholics are Italian Libyans and Maltese Libyans. Thousands of Filipino Catholic nurses moved to Libya during the 1980s and 1990s. The Italians were the majority of the Catholics in Libya until their expulsion in 1969 by Colonel Gaddafi.
There are no dioceses in Libya, but there are four territorial jurisdictions - three Apostolic Administrations and one Apostolic Prefecture.
Christianity has been present in Libya since Roman times. Saint Francis of Assisi brought his faith to Tripoli in the Middle Ages.
The Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli (Our Lady of the Angels) in the Old City - Medina of Tripoli was founded in 1645 and, with the permission of the Sultan of Constantinople, the Church of the Immaculate Conception was founded in Benghazi in 1858.
Before World War II the number of Catholics increased in Libya due to its status as an Italian colony, but the Catholic Cathedral of Tripoli (built in the 1920s) was converted to a mosque in the 1990s by Muammar Gaddafi's regime. [1] The other Catholic cathedral in Libya, the Benghazi Cathedral is under renovation as a stock exchange.
The Catholic population in Libya was estimated to number 100,000 in 2012 many of them are mostly of Italian and Maltese ancestry. [2] In 2017 there were only 300 Catholics in Libya. [3] In 2023, it is believed that there are less than 20,500 Catholics in the country. [4]
There are two Catholic churches in Libya, the Church of San Francesco in Tripoli (led until 2017 by Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli) and the Maria Immacolata Parish Church in Benghazi, both of which are led by Franciscan priests from the Province of St. Paul the Apostle (Malta). [5] Each church is made up of "personal parishes" based on language, with each personal parish assigned its own priest.
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 Major Archeparchy of Ernakulam–Angamaly is the major archeparchy and the See of the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church. Mar Cardinal George Alencherry is the present Major Archbishop, and until July 2022 Archbishop Mar Antony Kariyil CMI was the Vicar of Major Archbishop, responsible for the administration of the major archeparchy. Currently Mar Andrews Thazath, Archbishop of Thrissur Archeparchy, was appointed by the Holy Father Pope Francis as the apostolic administrator of the same, replacing Mar Antony Kariyil. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church was elevated to the status of a major archiepiscopal church in 1992 with Ernakulam-Angamaly as the primatal see.
The Italian Catholic Church, or Catholic Church in Italy, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome, under the Conference of Italian Bishops. The pope serves also as Primate of Italy and Bishop of Rome. In addition to Italy, two other sovereign nations are included in Italian-based dioceses: San Marino and the Vatican City. There are 225 dioceses in the Catholic Church in Italy, see further in this article and in the article List of Catholic dioceses in Italy.
The Catholic Church in Israel is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, in full communion with the Holy See in Rome. The Catholic Church in Israel is divided into three main jurisdictions: the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, and the Salesian Mission. Each of these jurisdictions has its own responsibilities and areas of operation.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia is an apostolic vicariate of the Catholic Church with territorial jurisdiction for Oman, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia is an apostolic vicariate of the Catholic Church with territorial jurisdiction for Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. The vicar apostolic of the vicariate is Msgr. Aldo Berardi O.SS.T. It was first established in 1953 and took its current name in 2011. The see of the vicar apostolic is in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Awali, Bahrain, with a co-cathedral, the Holy Family Co-Cathedral, located in Kuwait City.
Christianity is a minority religion in Libya. It has been present in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica since Roman times.
The Ethiopian Catholic Archeparchy of Addis Abeba, officially the Metropolitan sui iuris Archeparchy of Addis Abeba is the metropolitan see of the Ethiopian Catholic Church, a sui iuris metropolitan Eastern Catholic Church.
The Diocese of Rome, also called the Vicariate of Rome, is the ecclesiastical district under the direct jurisdiction of the Pope, who is Bishop of Rome and hence the supreme pontiff and head of the worldwide Catholic Church. As the Holy See, the papacy is a sovereign entity with diplomatic relations, and civil jurisdiction over the Vatican City State located geographically within Rome. The Diocese of Rome is the metropolitan diocese of the Province of Rome, an ecclesiastical province in Italy. The first bishop of Rome was Saint Peter in the first century. The incumbent since 13 March 2013 is Pope Francis.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu is a metropolitan archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in Sabah, a state of Malaysia on the island of Borneo. The archdiocese is the oldest ecclesiastical territory in Malaysia, with a long history slowly rising along with the Catholic population from a prefecture to an archdiocese. Its cathedral archepiscopal see is Sacred Heart Cathedral, Kota Kinabalu. The patron saint of the Archdiocese is St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Benghazi is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or apostolic vicariate of the Catholic Church in Libya.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Derna is a Latin Church missionary territory or apostolic vicariate of the Catholic Church in Derna, Libya. It has an episcopal see, but no cathedral.
The Apostolic Vicariate of Tripoli is a Latin Church missionary territory or apostolic vicariate of the Catholic Church in Tripolitania, Libya.
Algeria Square Mosque or Jamal Abdul Nasser Mosque, formerly Tripoli Cathedral, is a mosque and former Roman Catholic church located in Tripoli, the capital of Libya. It is situated on the Algeria/Elgazayer Square then Piazza della Cattedrale in the city centre.
Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli OFM was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate. He was also a Vicar Apostolic of Tripoli and the Titular Bishop of Tabuda.
Sylvester Carmel Magro was a Maltese bishop who served as the Apostolic Vicar of Benghazi in Libya from 1997 until 2016.
The St. Francis Pro-Cathedral or simply Church of St. Francis, is a Roman Catholic church located in the city of Tripoli, Libya.
The presence of the Catholic Church in the Chinese province of Sichuan dates back to 1640, when two missionaries, Lodovico Buglio and Gabriel de Magalhães, through Jesuit China missions, entered the province and spent much of the 1640s doing evangelism.
