Catholic Church in Trinidad and Tobago

TheCatholic Church in Trinidad and Tobagois part of the worldwideCatholic Church,under the spiritual leadership of thePopeinRome.TheApostolic NunciotoTrinidad and Tobagois, since November 2017, ArchbishopFortunatus Nwachukwu,who is also Apostolic Nuncio to other independent states andApostolic Delegateto the Antilles.

History

The Catholic Church has been present on the island of Trinidad since the 15th century, when the first missionaries arrived here from the Dominican and theFranciscanReligious orders.Missionary ventures to the country launched in the 16th century resulted in the death of a number of missionaries. In 1516, Trinidad was named a territorial abbey, which was the first Catholic structure in Trinidad and Tobago. ThisTerritorial abbeyceased to exist in 1650. The first Catholic church in Trinidad was built in 1591.Capuchinsworked there from 1618 to 1803. In 1672, Trinidad and adjacent islands were included in the Diocese of Puerto Rico and in 1790 in the Diocese of Santo Tomás de Guayana, nowArchdiocese of Ciudad Bolivar.

In 1797, Trinidad came under British control and missionary work continued because freedom of worship was granted to Catholics. In 1818, theApostolic Vicariateof Trinidad was established, and on 30 April 1850 it was elevated to theArchdiocese of Port of Spainin 1850. In 1863 the first Irish Dominicans arrived in the diocese and many Irish priests, brothers, and nuns, served the Diocese, as the Irish Dominican Order were given responsibility for the dioceses.Constant missionary activity of theCatholic Churchonly began in 1864 in Trinidad. Only in 1864 did the archbishops begin a serious program of evangelization of the island of Tobago, where other Christian denominations had prospered in the meantime, including Anglicans and Methodists. In the history of the local Tobago Catholic community, Catherine Creigh goes down in history as the first Catholic, baptized on March 5, 1870.

Demography and structure

Trinidad and Tobago is made up of two main islands and 21 smaller islands, has an area of 5128 km²and a census population of 1,223,916 inhabitants (2011). There are just under 264,365 Catholics in the country, representing 21.6% percent of the total population, according to 2011 census.This is the largest Catholic community in theEnglish-speaking Caribbean.The entire nation is administered as theArchdiocese of Port of Spain,which is divided into fiveepiscopal vicariates.The country has 61 parishes. In Port-of-Spain there is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is a small basilica. ThearchbishopofPort of Spainis a member of theAntilles Episcopal Conference.

Estimates in 2020 suggested that there were 289,000 Catholics on the islands, or 21.17% of the population;there were 90 priests and 106 nuns serving at that time.

Nuncio

On July 23, 1978Pope Paul VIissued a breve "Commune omnium bonum",which established in Trinidad and Tobago an Apostolic Nunciature. Currently in Port-of-Spain is the residence of the Nuncio, whose jurisdiction extends to the countries of the Antilles.

• Paul Fouad Tabet(9.02.1980 - 11.02.1984), appointed apostolic pro-nuncio in Belize.
• Manuel Monteiro de Castro(16.02.1985 - 21.08.1990), appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Honduras and El Salvador.
• Eugenio Sbarbaro (7.02.1991 - 26.04.2000), appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Serbia and Montenegro.
• Emil Paul Tscherrig(08.07.2000 - 22.05.2004), appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Korea.
• Thomas Edward Gullickson(2.10.2004 - 21.05.2011), appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine.
• Nicola Girasoli(21.12.2011–2018).
• Fortunatus Nwachukwu,appointed Apostolic Nuncio (19.3.2018–2022).
• Santiago de Wit Guzmán(30 July 2022– present)

Church and state relations

Relations between church and state are cordial; both want more native clergy, and have a close relationship via the Education Concordat.

See also

• Archdiocese of Port of Spain
• Religion in Trinidad and Tobago
• Apostolic Nunciature to Trinidad and Tobago

External links

• G Catholic website