Catholic Intelligence

Archdiocese of Kigali

Kigalien(sis)

Metropolitan see · Latin Church · Kigali, Rwanda

The Archdiocese of Kigali is the sole metropolitan archdiocese of Rwanda, erected directly as a metropolitan see on 10 April 1976 from the Archdiocese of Kabgayi. Its seat is St. Michael's Cathedral in Kigali, and its ordinary is Cardinal Antoine Kambanda, created cardinal in 2020.

The see

Rank
Metropolitan see
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
10 April 1976
Latin
Kigalien(sis)
Annuario code
001001850

The see in figures

Catholics
714,982
Priests
184
Catholics per priest
3,886
Extent
3,271 km²
Catholics per km²
219

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

Archbishop
Antoine Kambanda
Born
10 November 1958
Birthplace
Nyamata

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

St. Michael's Cathedral stands in Kigali, 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

This see is the metropolitan of its province.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

Rwanda's only archdiocese, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kigali (Latin: Archidioecesis Kigaliensis), was erected from the Archdiocese of Kabgayi by Pope Paul VI on April 10, 1976. Its suffragan sees are Butare, Byumba, Cyangugu, Gikongoro, Kabgayi, Kibungo, Nyundo, and Ruhengeri. St. Michael's Cathedral is the mother church of the archdiocese and the seat of its archbishop.

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.

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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].