Diocese of Butare
Butaren(sis)
Suffragan diocese · Latin Church · Butare, Rwanda
Latin rite diocese in southern Rwanda, erected in 1961 as the Diocese of Astrida and renamed Butare in 1963. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Kigali and is led by Bishop Jean Bosco Ntagungira, appointed in August 2024.
The see
- Rank
- Suffragan diocese
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 12 November 1963
- Latin
- Butaren(sis)
- Annuario code
- 001000989
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 691,850
- Population
- 1,269,540
- Catholic share
- 54.5%
- Priests
- 147
- Catholics per priest
- 4,706
- Extent
- 1,958 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 353
of the people living within its bounds
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
- Bishop
- Jean Bosco Ntagungira
- Born
- 3 April 1964
- Birthplace
- Kigali
A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.
The cathedral
de Nuestra Señora de la Sabiduría stands in Butare, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.
On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.
The province of Kigali
A suffragan of Archdiocese of Kigali.
The sees of this province:
- Archdiocese of KigaliKigali
- Diocese of ByumbaByumba
- Diocese of CyanguguCyangugu
- Diocese of GikongoroGikongoro
- Diocese of KabgayiKabgayi
- Diocese of KibungoKibungo
- Diocese of NyundoNyundo
- Diocese of RuhengeriRuhengeri
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
This Rwandan diocese of the Roman Catholic Church began on 11 September 1961, when Pope John XXIII erected it as the Diocese of Astrida; Pope Paul VI gave it its present name, the Diocese of Butare, on 12 November 1963. It stands as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Kigali. On 2 January 1997 Pope John Paul II appointed Phillipe Rukamba as Bishop of Butare, and on 12 August 2024 Pope Francis named Jean Bosco Ntagungira bishop. Among the diocese's notable priests was Monsignor Eulad Rudahunga, who served from 1953 to 2019 and was made a Monsignor by Pope John Paul II.
What is kept by invitation
The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.
The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.
Sources
The see's own website · Wikipedia
This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].