Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde
Sancti Iacobi Capitis Viridis
Diocese immediately subject to the Holy See · Latin Church · Santiago de Cabo Verde, Cabo Verde
Latin rite diocese covering the islands of Santiago, Maio, Fogo and Brava in Cape Verde, with its seat at the Pro-Cathedral of Our Lady of Grace in Praia. Created on 31 January 1533 by Pope Clement VII, originally as a suffragan of Funchal. Cardinal Arlindo Gomes Furtado resigned in February 2026 and Bishop Teodoro Mendes Tavares, C.S.Sp. was installed on 3 May 2026.
The see
- Rank
- Diocese immediately subject to the Holy See
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 31 January 1533
- Latin
- Sancti Iacobi Capitis Viridis
- Patron
- Santiago el Menor
- Annuario code
- 001002965
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 292,488
- Population
- 318,317
- Catholic share
- 91.9%
- Priests
- 45
- Catholics per priest
- 6,500
- Extent
- 1,793 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 163
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
- Teodoro Mendes Tavares, C.S.Sp.
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
Pro-Catedral Nossa Senhora da Graca, Praia stands in Santiago de Cabo Verde, 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.
History
Covering the Sotavento Islands of Maio, Santiago, Fogo, and Brava, the Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Latin: Dioecesis Sancti Iacobi Capitis Viridis; Portuguese: Diocese de Santiago de Cabo Verde) is a Latin Church territory of the Catholic Church in Cape Verde. The bishop's cathedra is kept in the Pró-catedral Nossa Senhora da Graça in Praia, on Santiago, and the diocese, belonging to no ecclesiastical province, is immediately exempt to the Holy See.
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].