Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Monrovia

Archdiocese of Monrovia

Archidioecesis Monroviensis
Location
CountryLiberia
Ecclesiastical provinceMonrovia
Statistics
Area6,168 sq mi (15,980 km2)
Population
- Total
- Catholics
(as of 2013)
2,058,000
140,705 (6.8%)
Parishes30
Information
DenominationCatholic Church
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
Established18 April 1903
Secular priests27 (2013)
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
Metropolitan ArchbishopGabriel Blamo Jubwe
Map

The Archdiocese of Monrovia (Archidioecesis Monroviensis) is Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Liberia. It was elevated to an archdiocese in December 1981. It was initially established as the Prefecture Apostolic of Liberia in 1903, being separated from the Apostolic Vicariate of Sierra Leone (which is now the Archdiocese of Freetown and Bo). Until Saturday, February 12, 2011, the Archdiocese of Monrovia had been headed by Michael Kpakala Francis, who had been Monrovia's archbishop since its elevation in 1981, but Vatican Information Service (VIS) stated that he resigned that day for reasons of age and was succeeded immediately by his Coadjutor Archbishop, Lewis Jerome Zeigler.

According to church statistics, the percentage of Catholics under the archdiocese has risen to 8.2% of the total population in 2004 out of a total of approximately 1.6 million people. The Diocese of Cape Palmas was created from it in 1981. The Diocese of Gbarnga was created from it in 1986.