Roman Catholic Church in Lesotho

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Outline map of Lesotho in Africa

The Roman Catholic Church in Lesotho is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church , under the spiritual guidance of the Pope and the Curia in Rome. It is the largest religious community in Lesotho .

history

In January 1862, the Catholic Bishop François Allard and the priest asked Father Joseph Gérard from the Congregation of the Oblates the head of the Basotho , Moshoeshoe I. , at the seat of Thaba Bosiu settle to be allowed. He assigned them a job at Ha Tloutle , 14 kilometers further south. There they founded as the third Christian church under Moshoeshoe I a mission station , which they called Motse oa 'M'a Jesu (village of the mother of Jesus). In 1868 there were only a hundred native Catholics. They were called Baroma ("The Romans"), so the place was eventually called Roma . Father Gerard founded further mission stations in the north of Basutoland . In 1886 control passed from the Vicariate in Natal to the Bishop of Kimberley . 1894 was by Pope Leo XIII. the Apostolic Prefecture of Basutoland formed from cessions of territory from the Vicariate Apostolic Kimberley in Orange ; he subordinated the administration of the prefecture to the religious community of the Oblates. In 1900 there were around 5000 Catholics in Basutoland. On February 18, 1909, Pope Pius X gave the company the name of the Apostolic Vicariate Basutoland .

The Catholic Church tolerated bridal money and polygamy , which earned it sympathy, especially with the barena . Griffith Lerotholi was baptized Catholic in 1912 ; henceforth all barena ba baholo were Catholics. Around 15,000 mourners attended the funeral of Father Gérard in Roma in 1914. In 1931 the first Mosotho priest was ordained. In 1933 a printing works was set up in Mazenod . The weekly Moeletsi oa Basotho has been printed there ever since . In the early 1930s, the French OMI clergy were replaced by French-Canadian priests from the OMI. In 1934 the church ran nearly 370 schools. Several hospitals were also set up. In 1936 the number of Catholics exceeded the number of followers of the Lesotho Evangelical Church at 112,000 .

In 1945 the Pius XII College was established in Roma , which later became the state National University of Lesotho . In 1950 the Catholic Church set up the country's first radio station. On January 11, 1951, the elevation to a diocese by Pope Pius XII took place.

From the 1950s onwards, the church interfered in the politics of the country striving for independence. In 1957 the Christian Democratic Party was founded, but the party was unsuccessful. Instead, the Catholic Church, together with the colonial administration and the South African apartheid government, supported the conservative Basutoland National Party (BNP), which lost the 1960 election. Father M. Gareau then founded the Anti-Communist League, which merged with the BNP in 1962. For the 1965 election there was clear support from the pulpit for the BNP - this election was won by the BNP. In 1966 there were around 500 nuns in Lesotho.

Through Pope John XXIII. In 1961 the Archdiocese of Maseru was founded as a metropolitan diocese. The suffragan dioceses in Leribe (1952), Qacha's Nek (1961) and Mohale's Hoek (1977) are assigned to the Archdiocese of Maseru . The first archbishop was Emanuel 'Mabathoana . In the 1990s, almost 75 percent of Lesotho's primary and secondary schools were run by the Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Church in Lesotho is managed by the Episcopal Conference of Lesotho (Lesotho Catholic Bishops' Conference, LCBC). Presidents have been:

The office of Representative of the Holy See in Lesotho - the Apostolic Nuncio - was established in 1967. Archbishop Peter Brian Wells has been Apostolic Nuncio in Lesotho since February 2016 . In 1988 Pope John Paul II visited Lesotho. Father Gerard was beatified by the Pope during the visit . On November 19, 2016, Sebastian Koto Khoarai was the first Mosotho to be appointed cardinal by Pope Francis .

The liturgical language is English . The largest Catholic church building in Lesotho is the Cathedral of our Lady of Victories in Maseru, built in 1958 .

Dioceses

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weis fields Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 352.
  2. ^ A b c Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 107.
  3. ^ A b c d Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 353.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Scott Rosenberg, Richard W. Weisfelder, Michelle Frisbie-Fulton: Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland / Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0-8108-4871-9 , p. 354.
  5. ↑ Datasheet of the Bishops' Conference , accessed on March 20, 2013