Pope Francis has raised one of the two apostolic vicariates in the Southern African conference region to the status of diocese.
Francistown in Botswana is now a diocese, in recognition of the growth of the Church in the vicariate over the past 19 years.
Bishop Frank Nubuasah, who has served as vicar-apostolic since 1998, has been named the first bishop of the new diocese, which is a suffragan see of the metropolitan see of Pretoria.
New Bishop of Francistown
“We are happy and grateful to God who has made this happen. It is a new challenge to all the Church of Francistown,” Bishop Nubuasah said.
“I am hopeful we shall do well and shine since we have laid a solid foundation. Let us build on that in faith and love,” said the 68-year-old member of the Society of the Divine Word.
Francistown is one of two dioceses in Botswana. At present, Bishop Nubuasah is also the administrator of Gaborone diocese.
The diocese of Francistown covers all the northern centre of the country, an area of 472 995 km2. It has a population of 1,2 million. Of those only 17000 (or 1,4%) are Catholics, distributed among 17 parishes.
There are 26 priests, assisted by 29 religious.
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