The Catholic Church in Suriname is part of the worldwide

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, and is under the spiritual leadership of the

Bishop of Rome A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

. There are 117,261 Catholics in

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...

, 21.6% of the population, far lower than most of South America. The Church in Suriname consists of only one diocese, the Diocese of Paramaribo. There are 22 priests in the Diocese, with a ratio of about 5,030 Catholics per priest. There are 31 Catholic parishes in the diocese. The seat of the Diocese of Paramaribo is The Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Paramaribo. The current bishop of Paramaribo is Karel Choennie.

History

The first missionaries to come to Suriname were the Franciscans in 1683, but the harshness of the climate did not favor the arrival of other priests, so that up to 1786 the country was totally abandoned by the Catholic missions. Since 1786 some secular priests opened a missionary center, but soon had to flee to the opposition of the ministers of other Christian denominations. When in 1816 the territory passed into the hands of the Dutch, was guaranteed freedom of worship. This was the real starting point of Catholic evangelization of what today is called Suriname. In 1817 was erected the Apostolic Prefecture of Dutch Guyana, which became apostolic vicariate in 1842 and the mission was entrusted in a special way to the Redemptorists. On 7 May 1958 the apostolic vicariate was elevated to the rank of diocese, then Diocese of Paramaribo.

Ecclesiastical Organization

Today in the country there is only one Catholic ecclesiastical district, the Diocese of Paramaribo, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Port of Spain in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. The local episcopate is

Antilles Episcopal Conference The Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) is a Roman Catholic episcopal conference. Its members are bishops and archbishops from current and former British, Dutch, and French colonies and dependencies in the Caribbean (excluding Haiti), Central Americ ...

's officio member.

Apostolic Nunciature

The Apostolic Nunciature of Suriname was established on 16 February 1994.

Nuncios

* Eugenio Sbarbaro (July 13, 1994 - April 26, 2000 appointed apostolic nuncio in Serbia and Montenegro) *

Emil Paul Tscherrig Emil Paul Tscherrig (born 3 February 1947) is a Swiss prelate of the Catholic Church who has spent his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He became an archbishop in 1996 and has since held assignments as Apostolic Nuncio to sever ...

(January 20, 2001 - May 22, 2004 appointed apostolic nuncio in Korea) *

Thomas Edward Gullickson Thomas Edward Gullickson (born August 14, 1950) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has served as an apostolic nuncio in the Holy See diplomatic corps since 2004. Gullickson was posted to Switzerland and Liechtenstein from ...

(December 15, 2004 - May 21, 2011 appointed apostolic nuncio in Ukraine) *

Nicola Girasoli Nicola Girasoli (21 July 1957) is a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who is Apostolic Nuncio to Slovakia since July 2022. He served as nuncio to Zambia and Malawi from 2006 until 2011 and nuncio to the Antilles and several other Caribbean ...

(29 October 2011 - 16 June 2017, appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Peru) * Fortunatus Nwachukwu (9 Mar 2018 - 17 Dec 2021, appointed, Permanent Observer to United Nations Office and Specialized Agencies in Geneva) *

Santiago De Wit Guzmán Santiago de Wit Gúzman (born 5 September 1964) is a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church who works in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. Biography He was born in the city of Valencia on 5 September 1964. He was ordained a priest fo ...

,Catholic Hierarchy website, retrieved 2023-08-08
/ref> from 30 Jul 2022 -

References

External links