NAMPULA, DIOCESE of. - City and diocese in the north of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, canonically erected on 4 Sept. 1940, pursuant to the Concordat and the related missionary agreement between Portugal and the Holy See of 7 May 1940, as a suffragan of Lorenzo Marques. Among 1,919,767 inhabitants, over an area of approximately 300,000 sq. km., where the influence of Islâm is very strong, only 36,424 are Catholics.
The prospects for the future, however, are good, because the number of catechumens equals that of converts, and the number of annual Baptisms has risen to 4,000; the 6 parishes and 25 stations, served by 74 priests, constitute the ministry posts. The old Portuguese mission was generally confined to the coastal regions; the Consolata missionaries, on the other hand, began to introduce the Gospel into the interior. With the exception of 5 secular priests, the rest of the clergy consists of religious. The most numerous are the Montfortians (28 fathers), followed by the Missionaries of the Consolata (17 fathers), the members of the Sociedade Portuguesa (13 fathers), and the Missionaries of Verona (8 fathers). The Consolata fathers direct at the Marrere station 1 seminary and 6 preparatory colleges; they are assisted by 81 brothers and 48 sisters (43 of the Congregation of the Consolata, the others Franciscans of Nuestra Señora das Vitorias) and by 419 catechists. There are also 95 schools, 2 orphanages, and 4 dispensaries.