Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Notes on the Diocese of N'Dali

The 29 April 2000, it was made public that Pope John Paul II created (22 December 1999) the diocese of N'Dali (Benin) with territory taken from the archdiocese of Parakou, making it suffragan of the same metropolitan Church.

The new diocese was created because of the vast territory, and although the area is largely Muslim, followers of traditional religions are very open to evangelization.

The new diocese of N'Dali will be a suffragan of Parakou and will have its border tot he north with the diocese of Kani, to the south with Parakou archdiocese, to the west with the dioceses of Natitingou and Djougou and to the east with Nigeria. It will comprise 6 sub-prefectures: Bemberke, Kalale, N'Dali, Nikki, Perere, Sinende, all regions of Borgou which has as its main town, Parakou. The archdiocese of Parakou will have 2 sub-prefectures: Parakou and Tchaourou.

Here are the statistics of the archdiocese and the new diocese of N'Dali

Parakou before
N'Dali
Parakou today

Area

20,703 sq km
11,454 sq km
9,259 sq km

Population

586,328
358,836
227,492

Catholics

65,577
6,344
59,233

Parishes

15
7
8

Priests (diocesan)

25
6
19

Priests (religious)

20
6
4

Brothers

16
-
16

Sisters

109
24
85

Major seminarians

43
7
36

Source: www.fides.org

- CT