WAMBA, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - Located in the north-eastern part of the Belgian Congo, it borders on the apostolic vicariates of Buta, Niangara, Lake Albert, Beni in the Belgian Congo and Stanleyville.

It embraces the whole region watered by the Nepoko River and is comprised between 27° west longitude, 29° east longitude and the Ituri River. The apostolic vicariate of W. was erected on 10 March 1949 by division of the apostolic vicariate of Stanley Falls (now Stanleyville) and entrusted to the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. With an area of 35,321 sq. km., it has a population of about 192,000 inhabitants. Among the tribes living in the vicariate, those of the Wabudu, the Walika and the Wales stand out for number and importance. Catholics number 23,988, catechumens 76,129; Protestants about 8,650, Muslims about 1,112 and the remainder pagans; native priest 1, 18 foreign missionaries of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; major seminarians 5, minor 60, foreign lay brothers 8, native sisters of the native religious Congregation of the Holy Family 16, foreign 20; principal mission stations 8, secondary 312; numerous schools, among them elementary, vocational, normal and secondary, with more than 12,000 pupils. There are moreover works for good social and health care. The average number of conversions, from 1949 to the present, has remained almost constant at around 2,000 units a year.

The main obstacle to a more fruitful work of evangelization is represented by polygamy which, despite the decree of prohibition issued by the Belgian government on 4 Apr. 1950, still remains a widely diffused custom among the native population of the vicariate.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: AAS, 41 (1949), pp. 437-38; Arch. della Sacra Congr. di Prop. Fide, pos. prot. n. 608-49; rubr. 42-37, prot. 880/40; J. Van Wing - V. Goemé, Ann. des Miss. Cath. au Congo Belga et au Ruanda-Urundi, Bruxelles 1949, pp. 327-55.

Mariano Clementi

WANDRILLE, ABBEY of St.: v. ROUEN, ARCHDIOCESE of.

@incollection{ec12_wamba_vicariato_apostolico_di, author = {Clementi, Mariano}, title = {Wamba, vicariato apostolico di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {1649}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/wamba-vicariato-apostolico-di} }

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Wamba, Apostolic Vicariate of

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