Diocese of Wau
Vaven(sis)
Suffragan diocese · Latin Church · Wau, South Sudan
The Diocese of Wau is a Latin Church suffragan diocese in Western Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan, originating as the Apostolic Prefecture of Bahr el-Ghazal in 1913 and elevated to a diocese in 1974. It is part of the ecclesiastical province of Juba.
The see
- Rank
- Suffragan diocese
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 12 December 1974
- Latin
- Vaven(sis)
- Patron
- Saint Mary
- Annuario code
- 001000144
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 3,164,190
- Priests
- 27
- Catholics per priest
- 117,192
- Extent
- 134,572 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 24
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
- Matthew Remijio Adam Gbitiku
- Born
- 5 May 1972
- Birthplace
- Mboro
- Institute
- MISSIONARI COMBONIANI DEL CUORE DI GESÙ
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
Cathedral of St. Mary stands in Wau, 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 Juba
A suffragan of Archdiocese of Juba.
The sees of this province:
- Archdiocese of JubaJuba
- Diocese of BentiuBentiu
- Diocese of MalakalMalakal
- Diocese of RumbekRumbek
- Diocese of Tombura–YambioTombura–Yambio
- Diocese of ToritTorit
- Diocese of YeiYei
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
The Catholic Church in South Sudan includes the Latin Church Diocese of Wau (Latin: Vaven(sis)), a suffragan see in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Juba that depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Its cathedra rests in the Cathedral of St. Mary in Wau, in Gharb Baḩr al Ghazāl province. Since 18 November 2020 the bishop has been Matthew Remijio Adam Gbitiku.
How to reach it
- Chancery
- P.O. Box 29, Wau, Sud Sudan
- Telephone
- 924.244.404
- [email protected]
This see keeps no website of its own, so its chancery is published here: withholding it would protect nothing and leave a reader with nowhere to go. Where a see publishes its own site, the register sends you there instead.
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 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
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].