TheCatholic Church in Africa is part of the worldwideCatholic Church infull communion with theHoly See inRome.
Christian activity inAfrica began in the 1st century when thePatriarchate of Alexandria inEgypt was formed as one of the four originalPatriarchs of the East (the others beingConstantinople,Antioch, andJerusalem).
However, theIslamic conquest in the 7th century resulted in a harsh decline for Christianity in Northern Africa.
Yet, at least outside the Islamic majority parts of Northern Africa, the presence of the Catholic Church has grown in the modern era, in Africa as a whole, one of the reasons being theFrench colonization of several countries in Africa.[1] Catholic Church membership rose from 2 million in 1900 to 140 million in 2000.[2] In 2005, the Catholic Church in Africa, includingEastern Catholic Churches, embraced approximately 135 million of the 809 million people in Africa. In 2009, whenPope Benedict XVI visited Africa, it was estimated at 158 million.[3] Most belong to theLatin Church, but there are also millions of members of the Eastern Catholic Churches. By 2025, one-sixth (230 million) of the world's Catholics are expected to be Africans.[4][5]
The world's largest seminary is inNigeria, which borders onCameroon in western Africa, and Africa produces a large percentage of the world's priests. As of 26 June 2020, there are also 29Cardinals from Africa, out of 222,[6] and 400,000catechists.Cardinal Peter Turkson, formerlyArchbishop of Cape Coast,Ghana, was once Africa's youngest cardinal at 64 years old,[3][7] and was also one of several prelates from Africa estimated aspapabile for thePapacy in thepapal conclave of 2013.
Many important members of the early Church were from Africa, includingMark the Evangelist,Origen,Tertullian, SaintAugustine of Hippo (fromHippo Regius in what is nowAnnaba,Algeria[8]) andClement of Alexandria. Churches in eastern North Africa, such as those inEgypt andEthiopia, tended to align with the practice ofEastern Christianity, but those to the West (the area now known as theMaghreb) generally were moreWestern in practice. Three earlypopes were from theRomanAfrica Province. These werePope Victor I (reigned c . 189 to 199),Pope Miltiades (reigned 311 to 314) andPope Gelasius I (492 to 496); all three were North African men.
Archaeological and scholarly research has shown that Christianity existed after the Muslim conquests, though the Catholic church gradually declined along with local Latin dialect.[9][10]
Many causes have been seen as to leading to the decline of Christianity in Maghreb. One of them is the constant wars and conquests as well as persecutions. In addition many Christians also migrated to Europe. The Church at that time lacked the backbone of amonastic tradition and was still suffering from the aftermath of heresies including the so-calledDonatist heresy, and that this contributed to the early obliteration of the Church in the present day Maghreb. Some historians contrast this with the strong monastic tradition in Coptic Egypt, which is credited as a factor that allowed the Coptic Church to remain the majority faith in that country until around after the 14th century despite numerous persecutions. In addition, the Romans and the Byzantines were unable to completely assimilate the indigenous people like the Berbers.[11][12]
Another view is that Christianity in North Africa ended soon after conquest of North Africa by the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate between AD 647–709 effectively.[13] However, new scholarship has appeared that disputes this. There are reports that Christianity persisted in the region fromTripolitania (present-day western Libya) to present-day Morocco for several centuries after the completion of the Arab conquest by 700. A Christian community is recorded in 1114 in Qal'a in central Algeria. There is also evidence of religious pilgrimages after 850 to tombs of Christian saints outside of the city of Carthage, and evidence of religious contacts with Christians of Arab Spain. In addition, calendrical reforms adopted in Europe at this time were disseminated amongst the indigenous Christians of Tunis, which would have not been possible had there been an absence of contact with Rome.
Local Catholicism came under pressure when the Muslim fundamentalist regimes of theAlmoravids and especially theAlmohads came into power, and the record shows persecutions and demands made that the local Christians of Tunis to convert to Islam. We still have reports of Christian inhabitants and a bishop in the city ofKairouan around 1150 – a significant report, since this city was founded byArab Muslims around 680 as their administrative center after their conquest. A letter from the 14th century shows that there were then still four bishoprics left in North Africa, albeit a sharp decline from the over four hundred bishoprics in existence at the time of the Arab conquest.[14] Berber Christians continued to live in Tunis and Nefzaoua in the south of Tunisia until the early 15th century, and "[i]n the first quarter of the fifteenth century, we even read that the native Christians of Tunis, though much assimilated, extended their church, perhaps because the last of the persecuted Christians from all over the Maghreb had gathered there." They were not in communion with the Catholic church of that time, however.[15]
Another group of Christians who came to North Africa after being deported from Islamic Spain were called theMozarabs. They were recognised as forming the Moroccan Church by PopeInnocent IV.[16]
Christians in Morocco had mostly become slaves by the time ofIbn al-Ahmar andFerdinand III of Castile.Celestine III had toldToledo's archbishop Martin to dispatch a priest for Christians in Morocco.Innocent III in 1198 requested the Almohads to allow theTrinitarian Order to perform its duties and in 1200 wrote a letter to the Christians enslaved there. Rebel Castilians had also served the Almohad caliphs and resided in Morocco. PopeHonorius III had requested the Almohads to allow the Christians to freely practice their faith.[17] In June 1225, Honorius III issued the bullVineae Domini custodes that permitted two friars of theDominican Order named Dominic and Martin to establish a mission in Morocco and look after the affairs of Christians there.[18] The friars ofFrancis of Assisi were dispatched to Morocco to evangelize to the Muslims butwere killed.[17]
Honorius III on 20 February 1226 toldRodrigo Jiménez de Rada to dispatch Franciscans to convert the Moroccan Muslims. This mission had proved very difficult due to the fact that Christianity was widely dispersed in the region. The first known bishop of Morocco was appointed by PopeGregory IX on 12 June 1237. The sultanAbd al-Wahid II in 1233 received a letter from the Pope referring to Bishop Agnello as thebishop ofFez. Lope Fernandez de Ain was appointed as thebishop of Morocco but wasn't able to establish himself before theMarinids captured Fez in 1248.Innocent IV had named him bishop ofChurch of Africa on 19 December 1246.[19]
The medieval Moroccan historianIbn Abi Zar stated that the Almohad caliphAbu al-Ala Idris al-Ma'mun had built a church inMarrakech for the Christians to freely practice their faith at Fernando III's insistence. Innocent IV asked emirs of Tunis, Ceuta andBugia to permit Lope and Franciscian friars to look after the Christians in those regions. He thanked theCaliph al-Sa'id for granting protection to the Christians and requested to allow them to create fortresses along the shores, but the Caliph rejected this request.[17] García Peréz was the archdeacon of Morocco during 1250s, but the local church was unable to support him and he had to depend on the Castilian church.[20]
Before thePortuguese conquest ofCeuta,Franciscans were established there. A document dated 10 March 1413 shows that theAntipope John XXIII had chosen Aimary de Aurrilac as the bishop of Morocco in place of Fray Diego de Jerez.[21]
Another phase of Christianity in Africa began with the arrival of Portuguese in the 15th century.[22] After the end ofReconquista, the Christian Portuguese and Spanish captured many ports in North Africa.[23] The bishopric of Marrakesh continued to exist until the late 16th century and was borne by thesuffragans of Seville.Juan de Prado who had attempted to re-establish the mission was killed in 1631. A Franciscan monastery built in 1637 was destroyed in 1659 after the downfall of theSaadi dynasty. A small Franciscan chapel and monastery in themellah of the city existed until the 18th century.[24]
TheLatin Church remains the largest throughout the continent. However, in eastern Africa, there has been an emergence ofAlexandrian RiteEastern Catholic Churches: theCoptic Catholic Church, theEthiopian Catholic Church, and theEritrean Catholic Church (2015).
Despite prevalent republican governments in contemporary time, Africa has a tradition of Catholic monarchs, such as in the kingdoms ofCongo,Uganda,Rwanda, andBurundi.
In 1920Hilaire Belloc had proclaimed, "The Church is Europe, and Europe is the Church." However, according toPhilip Jenkins, the 20th century saw major changes for the Catholic Church. By 1960, theCollege of Cardinals had its first Sub-Saharan African,Laurean Rugambwa. By deliberate policy,John Paul II selected many Cardinals fromThird World nations, and by 2001 they made up over 40 percent of the body.[25] In 2002, Italian Cardinals made up just 15 percent of the College, a drop from 60 percent in the 1950s.[26]
Jenkins saw theconservatism of Pope John Paul II as particularly attractive to Catholics in developing nations and likely to be a dominant force inCatholic politics for some time.[25]Francis Arinze, aNigerian Cardinal and adviser to Pope John Paul II, was consideredpapabile before the2005 papal conclave, which electedBenedict XVI.[27] As Arinze was considered theologically conservative, Jenkins suggests he would have brought African "notions of authority and charisma" to the office, rather than democracy.[25]
Jenkins states, "The prospect of a Black African pope understandably excites Christians of all political persuasions."[25] EvenCardinal Joseph Ratzinger, three years before his own selection as Pope, labeled the prospect of an African pope as "entirely plausible" and a "wonderful sign for all Christianity."[26] According toFinancial Times, an African such as Arinze would "boost the popularity" of the church, which is facing strong competition in Africa fromPentecostal,Baptist, andEvangelical denominations.[28]The Daily Telegraph has said that an "African papacy is the logical outcome" given that the majority of Catholics now live in the developing world, and in particular, the Catholic Church in Africa "has grown by 20 times since 1980."[26]
In thepapal conclave of 2013, CardinalPeter Turkson ofGhana was called "the most likely" candidate from Africa and was considered the favorite to win the papacy before the election ofJorge Mario Bergoglio in 2013.[29] Furthermore, CardinalRobert Sarah has been mentioned in the press as a possible candidate for the papacy, both in 2013 and in future conclaves.[30][31][32]
Persecution of Christians byIslamists, such asBoko Haram in Nigeria, remains one of the hardest issues to solve for the Catholic Church in Africa.
AlthoughCatholic priestly vow of celibacy is a general challenge for all priests in the Catholic Church, for instance because of cultural expectations for a man to have a family, Africa presents particular problems in the subject. Early in the 21st century, as celibacy continued to come under question, Africa was cited as a region where the violation of celibacy is particularly rampant. Priests on the continent were accused of taking wives andconcubines. Isolation of priests working in rural Africa, and the low status of women, is said to add to the temptation. A breakaway sect of married previously Catholic priests inUganda, called theCatholic Apostolic National Church, formed in 2010 following theexcommunication of a married priest byPope Benedict XVI.[33]
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