Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde Dioecesis Sancti Iacobi Capitis Viridis |
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Location | |
Country | Cape Verde |
Metropolitan | Immediately subject to the Holy See |
Statistics | |
Area | 1,793 km2 (692 sq mi) |
Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2004) 318,317 292,488 (91.9%) |
Information | |
Rite | Latin Rite |
Cathedral | Catedral Nossa Senhora Assumpcao |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Bishop | Arlindo Gomes Furtado |
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Latin: Dioecesis Sancti Iacobi Capitis Viridis) is a diocese located in Santiago in Cabo Verde.
The Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde was created on January 31, 1533 from the Diocese of Funchal in Portugal under a papal bull Pro excellenti praeeminentia by Pope Clement VII.
Bishop Francisco da Cruz constructed a cathedral in 1556. In late 18th century, Bishop Francisco de São Simão constructed a seminary and a episcopal palace. The modern seminary of Saint Joseph was erected in 1957 by Bishop José Filípe do Carmo Colaço.
The diocese covered up to mainland Africa including Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau) until September 4, 1940. After independence of Cape Verde, bishops would come only from the diocese.
Until 2003, it covered only the whole of Cape Verde and was sometimes known as the Diocese of Cape Verde or Cabo Verde until December 9, 2003 when the area covering the Barlavento Islands in the north split to form the Diocese of Mindelo due to a growing population and is no longer secondarily as known as the Diocese of Cape Verde.