The Catholic Church in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

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 ...

, under the spiritual leadership of the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

in the

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

. Catholics represent about 5-6% of the total population.

History

Initially Catholic missionaries were not allowed in Botswana by native tribes at the urging of Protestant missionaries who arrived first. Missionaries began to work in Botswana in 1928, and were noted for setting up schools and clinics. In 2006 the church in

Francistown Francistown is the second largest city in Botswana, with a population of about 103,417 and 147,122 inhabitants for its agglomeration at the 2022 census. and often described as the "''Capital of the North''" or as the natives would have it “''T ...

started a program to treat refugees infected with

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

with anti retro viral therapy. As of 2011 there were thirteen seminarians preparing for the priesthood in Botswana.

Organization

The church in Botswana is organized into the

Diocese of Gaborone The Roman Catholic Diocese of Gaborone ( la, Dioecesis Gaboronensis) is a diocese located in the city of Gaborone, Botswana, in the Ecclesiastical province of Pretoria in South Africa. The motto of the diocese is ', which means "God is love. ...

, which serves the southern portion of the country, and the Diocese of Francistown, which serves the faithful of northern communities.

References

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