Kivu, Apostolic Vicariate of

KIVU, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - Situated in the eastern part of the Colony of the Belgian Congo, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika and Lake Kivu. Another

vicariate of this name was erected on Dec. 12, 1912, with territory further to the east, but it was subsequently suppressed on April 25, 1922, and divided between the vicariates of Urundi and Rwanda. The present apostolic vicariate of Kivu has an area of 84,693 sq. km, is entrusted to the Society of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), and was erected on Dec. 26, 1929, with territory detached from the vicariate of the Upper Congo (today Baudouinville).

The territory of Kivu is among those developing most rapidly. The missionary activity of the White Fathers, assisted by some Fathers of the Society of Jesus, although full of commitment, encounters serious obstacles, especially from the anticlericalism imported by Europeans. In order to provide the vicariate with more adequate means, the possibility of an impending division of its territory into several ecclesiastical jurisdictions is already anticipated. It has approx. 831,000 inhabitants, 71,460 indigenous Catholics, 3,802 foreigners, and 133 of mixed descent; 54,045 catechumens; 15,645 Protestants; 3,995 Muslims, and over 679,000 pagans; 4 indigenous priests, 59 foreign priests of the White Fathers with 10 lay brothers; 5 foreign Jesuit priests with 7 scholastics and 2 lay brothers; 21 Marist lay brothers with a novitiate and 10 novices; 21 indigenous lay brothers; 28 indigenous nuns with 1 novitiate and 15 novices; 64 foreign nuns; 21 major seminarians educated in the Regional Seminary of Nyakibanda (Ruanda [v.]); 1 minor seminary with 93 students; 317 catechists and 627 teachers; 16 main missionary stations and 399 secondary ones; 17 churches and 203 chapels; 4 hospitals with 288 beds; 9 dispensaries with 451,537 annual consultations; 3 leprosariums with 110 patients; 3 maternity homes and numerous other welfare works for mothers and children; 1 printing press with 3 periodicals having a total of 16,500 copies. In 1949 there were 2,066 adult baptisms. The total number of schools (359) and students (36,627) is remarkable. Catholic Action associations and lay charitable associations, as well as confraternities, also flourish.