Suffragan diocese Tarawa and Nauru, Kiribati
Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru
Taravan(us) et Naurun(us)
Latin Church
The Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru covers Kiribati and Nauru in the central Pacific; it began as the Apostolic Vicariate of the Gilbert Islands on 28 June 1897, was elevated to the Diocese of Tarawa on 21 June 1966, and took its present name on 10 September 1982. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Suva, seated at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Tarawa, serving about 64,000 Catholics, a majority of the population. Bishop Simon Samendra Mani, M.S.C., was appointed on 2 May 2024.
On the map
Every see on one map: browse the dioceses. Churches with recorded hours: find Mass times.
- Established
- 1897
- Catholics
- 63,644
- Priests
- 28
- Territory
- 829 km²
Parishes and churches
2 listed churches in our records. Open a parish for Mass times, confession, directions and sources where recorded.
- Sacred Heart CathedralTeaoraereke, Tarawa · CathedralView parish
- Our Lady of the Rosary ChurchKoinawa, AbaiangView parish
This is our recorded coverage, not an official diocesan parish count. Confirm service times with the parish before travelling.
The bishop
- Bishop
- Simon Samendra Mani, M.S.C.
Explore the ministry of the bishop.
The cathedral
Sacred Heart Cathedral, Tarawa stands in Tarawa and Nauru, 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
Serving both Kiribati and Nauru, the Diocese of Tarawa and Nauru (Latin: Dioecesis Taravana et Nauruna) is a Latin Catholic suffragan of the Archdiocese of Suva. Its origins lie in the Vicariate Apostolic of Gilbert Islands, erected in 1897, whose see was at Tanaeang (on Tabiteuea) from 1936 to the end of the 1950s; in 1966 it was elevated as the Diocese of Tarawa. The name changed in 1978, and in 1982 the Mission sui iuris of Funafuti was split from the diocese. Today its jurisdiction covers all of Kiribati and Nauru.