Pope Benedict XVI has erected the new Diocese of Rutana in the south-east, bringing to eight the total number of Catholic dioceses in the tiny Central African nation.The new diocese will have territory taken from the dioceses of Bururi and Ruyigi, making it a suffragan of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Gitega. It has 168,000 Catholics served by 23 priests and 30 religious.
Making the announcement on Saturday, the pope appointed 49-year-old Fr. Bonaventure Nahimana, rector of the major inter-diocesan seminary of Burasira, and secretary of the episcopal commission for vocations and seminaries, as the first bishop of the new diocese.
The bishop-elect was born in Gisebuzi and ordained a priest in 1986.
The other dioceses of Burundi are Bubanza, Bujumbura (Archdiocese), Bururi, Gitega (Archdiocese), Muyinga, Ngozi and Ruyigi.
Some 60 percent of the 8 million Burundians are Catholic, eight to ten percent are Muslim and the rest follow indigenous beliefs and other Christian denominations.
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(Source: AAC)