Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nouméa

Latin Catholic archdiocese in New Caledonia

Archdiocese of Nouméa

Archidioecesis Numeanus

Archidiocèse de Nouméa

Nouméa Cathedral

Location
Country|  New Caledonia,  France
Ecclesiastical province| Noumea
Statistics
Area| 19,103 km2 (7,376 sq mi)
Population

* Total

* Catholics

* (as of 2004)

* 210,000

* 110,000 (52.4%)

Information
Denomination| Catholic
Sui iuris church| Latin Church
Rite| Roman Rite
Established| 23 July 1847 (As Vicariate Apostolic of Nouvelle-Calédonie)
21 June 1966 (Archdiocese of Nouméa)
Cathedral| Cathedral of St. Joseph in Nouméa
Current leadership
Pope| Leo XIV
Metropolitan Archbishop| Susitino Sionepoe
Suffragans| Diocese of Wallis et Futuna
Diocese of Port-Vila
Bishops emeritus| Michel-Marie-Bernard Calvet
Website
Website of the Archdiocese

The Archdiocese of Nouméa (Latin: Archidioecesis Numeanus; French: Archidiocèse de Nouméa) is a Metropolitan Archdiocese in New Caledonia, established in 1966. It is responsible for the suffragan dioceses of Port-Vila and Wallis et Futuna.

## Beginnings

[edit]

From early 1836 the territory of New Caledonia had been notionally part of the vast  Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceania, established by the Holy See on 10 January 1836. Given the immense dimensions of this Church jurisdiction, preliminary surveys on the spot soon gave rise to its gradual subdivision into smaller units, though these still covered enormous tracts of ocean, dotted with almost uncountable numbers of islands.

As part of this process, the history of the Catholic Church in New Caledonia took an important step closer to achieving formal shape on 27 June 1847, with the establishment of the  Vicariate Apostolic of New Caledonia, from which the current Archdiocese largely derives.

The first head of the new Vicariate was, as is customary, a titular bishop. The choice fell on Bishop Guillaume Douarre, who had been a Marist Father and in 1842 had been appointed Coadjutor to the Vicar Apostolic of Central Oceania and ordained a bishop not many days later in Lyon, France, before setting sail for the Pacific islands, not yet 32 years of age. Once in New Caledonia, Bishop Douarre remained there only until 20 Aug 1850, when he was appointed  Vicar Apostolic of the Archipelago of the Navigators.[1] He died there not three years later, on 27 June 1853.[2]

## Ordinaries

[edit]

* Guillaume Douarre, S. M. (1847–1850), transferred then to be Vicar Apostolic of the Archipelago of the Navigators.
* Pierre Rougeyron, S. M. (1855–1873)
* Pierre-Ferdinand Vitte, S. M. (1873–1880)
* Alphonse-Hilarion Fraysse, S. M. (1880–1905)
* Claude-Marie Chanrion, S. M. (1905–1937)
* Édouard Bresson, S. M. (1937–1956)
* Pierre-Paul-Émile Martin, S. M. (1956–1972)
* Eugène Klein, M.S.C. (1972–1981)
* Michel-Marie-Bernard Calvet, S. M. (1981–14 January 2025)
* Susitino Sionepoe, S.M. (appointed 14 January 2025)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ This was the term used at that period for the part of the Western Pacific Ocean which covered among others the present day American Samoa and also the independent state of Samoa (known until 1997 as Western Samoa)
2. ^ Ralph M. Wiltgen, The Founding of the Roman Catholic Church in Oceania 1825 to 1850, Australian National University Press, Canberra 1981

## External links and references

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nouméa.

* "Archdiocese of Nouméa". Catholic-Hierarchy. Retrieved 2007-01-11.

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22°16′33″S 166°27′29″E﻿ / ﻿22.27583°S 166.45806°E﻿ / -22.27583; 166.45806

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