The Eparchy of the Annunciation is an Eparchy of the

Maronite Church The Maronite Church (; ) is an Eastern Catholic '' sui iuris'' particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The head of the Maronit ...

immediately subject to the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

located in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

and

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. Its current ordinary is Eparch

Simon Faddoul Simon Faddoul (in Arabic: سيمون فضول; born 7 January 1958 in Dik El Mehdi, Lebanon) is the current Bishop of the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of the Annunciation since 2018. Simon Faddoul was ordained to the priesthood on 9 August 1987 in th ...

Territory and statistics

The eparchy encompasses the Maronite faithful living in West and Central Africa. Its eparchial seat is at the Our Lady of the Annunciation Cathedral in the city of

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

History

The eparchy was erected as the Maronite Apostolic Exarchate of Western and Central Africa by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

on 13 January 2014 with the

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

Patrimonium ecclesiarum. Excepting eparchies of the Ethiopian Catholic Church and Eritrean Catholic Church, this was the first ecclesiastical circumscription of an Eastern Catholic Church established in

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

. The apostolic exarchate was promoted to the status of an eparchy on 28 February 2018.

, former president of Caritas Lebanon, served as apostolic exarch without episcopal character and was chosen to become the first bishop of the eparchy when the apostolic exarchate was promoted. He has also served as apostolic visitor to the Maronite faithful in

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

since his initial appointment as apostolic exarch.

Ordinaries

(as apostolic exarch from 13 January 2014, as eparch-elect since 28 February 2018, as eparch since 7 April 2018)

References

External links

* https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dibma.html * http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/afri0.htm {{Authority control Catholicism in Nigeria Eastern Catholicism in Africa Lebanese diaspora in Africa Ibadan Maronite Catholic eparchies