Catholic Church in Trinidad and Tobago
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The Catholic Church in Trinidad and Tobago is part of the worldwide
History
The Catholic Church has been present on the island of Trinidad since the 15th century, when the first missionaries arrived here from the Dominican and the
In 1797, Trinidad came under British control and missionary work continued because freedom of worship was granted to Catholics. In 1818, the
Demography and structure
Trinidad and Tobago is made up of two main islands and 21 smaller islands, has an area of 5128 km2 and a census population of 1,223,916 inhabitants (2011). There are just under 264,365 Catholics in the country, representing 21.6% percent of the total population, according to 2011 census.
Estimates in 2020 suggested that there were 289,000 Catholics on the islands, or 21.17% of the population;[3] there were 90 priests and 106 nuns serving at that time.
Nuncio
On July 23, 1978 Pope Paul VI issued a breve "Commune omnium bonum",[4] which established in Trinidad and Tobago an Apostolic Nunciature. Currently in Port-of-Spain is the residence of the Nuncio, whose jurisdiction extends to the countries of the Antilles.
- Paul Fouad Tabet (9.02.1980 - 11.02.1984), appointed apostolic pro-nuncio in Belize.
- Manuel Monteiro de Castro (16.02.1985 - 21.08.1990), appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Honduras and El Salvador.
- Eugenio Sbarbaro (7.02.1991 - 26.04.2000), appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Serbia and Montenegro.
- Emil Paul Tscherrig (08.07.2000 - 22.05.2004), appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Korea.
- Thomas Edward Gullickson(2.10.2004 - 21.05.2011), appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine.
- Nicola Girasoli (21.12.2011–2018).
- Fortunatus Nwachukwu, appointed Apostolic Nuncio (19.3.2018–2022).
- Santiago de Wit Guzmán (30 July 2022[5] – present)
Church and state relations
Relations between church and state are cordial; both want more native clergy , and have a close relationship via the Education Concordat.
See also
- Archdiocese of Port of Spain
- Religion in Trinidad and Tobago
- Apostolic Nunciature to Trinidad and Tobago
References
- ^ Fitting legacy to Irish Dominicans Argus, Regionals, Irish Independent, November 18 2005.
- ^ "CIA handbook - Trinidad and Tobago". 2 December 2021.
- ^ Catholics And Culture website, retrieved 2023-09-20
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-10-05. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Vatican News website, article dated July 30, 2022