Catholic Church in Somalia
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The Catholic Church in Somalia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
Overview
There are very few Catholics in Somalia, with only about one hundred practitioners, with one priest, as of 2020.[1][2]
The whole of the country forms a single
History
Catholicism was introduced in Italian Somaliland in the late 19th century.[3] Initially, it was only practiced by the few Italian immigrants in Mogadishu and the Shebelle River farmer areas, thanks to some missionaries of the Trinitarian Fathers.[4]
In 1895, the first 45
After obtaining
Slavery in southern Somalia lasted until early into the 20th century, when it was finally abolished by the Italian authorities in accordance with the Belgium protocol and with the Diocese of Mogadishu.
After World War I, many Bantus, the descendants of former slaves, became Catholics.[9] They were principally concentrated in the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi and Genale plantations.[10]
In 1928, a Catholic cathedral was built in Mogadishu by order of Cesare Maria De Vecchi, a Catholic governor who promoted the Christianization of Somali people.[11] The cathedral, the biggest in Africa in the 1920s and 1930s, was later destroyed during the Somali Civil War.
The Bishop of Mogadishu, Franco Filippini, declared in 1940 that there were about 40,000 Somali Catholics due to the work of missionaries in the rural regions of Juba and Shebelle, but
In the 1950s
Since the end of the colonial period and the departure of the Italians, Catholicism has experienced a nearly complete disappearance in Somalia.[15] In 2023, the country was scored zero out of 4 for religious freedom.[16] In the same year, the country was ranked as the second worst place in the world to be a Christian, just behind North Korea.[17]
See also
- Christianity in Somalia
- Freedom of religion in Somalia
- Catholic Church in Somaliland
- Italian Somalis
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Mogadishu
Notes
- ^ Catholics and Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-08
- ^ a b "Mogadiscio (Latin (or Roman) Diocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
- ^ Gresleri, G. Mogadiscio ed il Paese dei Somali: una identita negata. p. 45
- ^ Lucia Ceci. "Il Vessillo e la Croce" (pp. 27-168)
- ^ Tripodi, Paolo. The Colonial Legacy in Somalia. p. 65
- ^ History of Somali Bantu Archived 2011-11-01 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Catherine Lowe Besteman, Unraveling Somalia: Race, Class, and the Legacy of Slavery, (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1999), pp. 87-88
- ^ David D. Laitin, Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience, (University Of Chicago Press: 1977), p.64
- ^ Photo of the Trinitarian missionaries' Catholic school in Archived 2017-04-25 at the Wayback Machine Gelib
- ^ Gresleri, G. Mogadiscio ed il Paese dei Somali: una identita negata. p.71
- ^ Natilli, Daniele (7 November 2011). "Le missioni cattoliche italiane all'estero: il caso della Consolata nella Somalia di Cesare Maria De Vecchi (1924-1928) - A.S.E.I." (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-03-17.
- ^ Tripodi, Paolo. The Colonial Legacy in Somalia. p. 66
- ^ "Somalia Italiana - Scuola Missionaria / Mogadiscio 1937 " | In vendita su Delcampe"". Delcampe - Il Marketplace dei collezionisti (in Italian). Retrieved 2019-03-17.
- ^ Montanelli wrote in the first Borghese editions; John Francis Lane. "Obituary: Indro Montanelli". The Guardian.
- ^ Gresleri, G. Mogadiscio ed il Paese dei Somali: una identita negata. p.96
- ^ Freedom House website, retrieved 2023-08-08
- ^ Open Doors website, retrieved 2023-08-08
Bibliography
- Ceci, Lucia. Il Vessillo e la Croce - Colonialismo, missioni cattoliche e islam in Somalia (1903-1924)Carocci editore. Roma, 2006 ISBN 978-88-430-4050-6 ([1])
- Gresleri, G. Mogadiscio ed il Paese dei Somali: una identita negata. Marsilio editori. Venezia, 1993
- Tripodi, Paolo. The Colonial Legacy in Somalia. St. Martin's Press. New York, 1999.