The diocese of Ifakara (in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Dioecesis Ifakarensis'') is a see of the

Roman 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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

suffragan of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dar-es-Salaam The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dar-es-Salaam () is a Latin Metropolitan archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Tanzania. The archdiocese's motherchurch and seat of its archbishop is St. Joseph's Cathedral. The Archdiocese has been le ...

. In 2012, it counted 287,000 baptized people among a population of 322,779 inhabitants. Its current bishop is Salutaris Melchior Libena.

Territory

The diocese corresponds to the

Kilombero District Kilombero District is a district in Morogoro Region, south-western Tanzania. The district is situated in a vast floodplain, between the Kilombero River in the south-east and the Udzungwa-Mountains in the north-west. On the other side of the Kilo ...

in the

Morogoro Region Morogoro Region (''Mkoa wa Morogoro'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions. It covers an area of . and is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Ireland. M ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. Its see is located in the city of

Ifakara Ifakara is a town in the Kilombero District, Morogoro Region, south central Tanzania. It is the headquarters of the Kilombero District administration and the main trading centre for Kilombero and Ulanga districts. The town is located near the Ta ...

, where the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

of Saint Patrick stands. The territory is divided into 18 parishes.

History

The diocese was created on January 14, 2012, by 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 ...

''Nuper est petitum'' of Pope

Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, his resignation on 28 Februar ...

, taking territories from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mahenge.

Chronology of the bishops

Salutaris Melchior Libena Salutaris Melchior Libena (born 23 November 1963) is a Tanzanian Catholic prelate who serves as the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ifakara. He was appointed bishop of Ifakara on 14 January 2012. Previously, he served as Auxiliary Bi ...

, since January 14, 2012

Statistics

At the date of its creation, the Diocese had a population of 322,779 people among whom 287,800 were baptized, which is 88.9%. , - , 2012 , , 287.800 , , 322.779 , , 88,9 , , 62 , , 42 , , 20 , , 4.629 , , , , 3 , , 198 , , 18

External links

The diocese on Catholic-hierarchy
Creation of the Diocese]
Papal bull ''Nuper est petitum''
{{authority control Roman Catholic dioceses in Tanzania, Ifakara