Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Maseru

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Maseru (Latin: Maseruen(us)) is the metropolitan see for the ecclesiastical province of Maseru in Lesotho. The cathedral church of the diocese is the Our Lady of Victories Cathedral.

Archdiocese of Maseru Archidiœcesis Maseruenus
Our Lady of Victories Cathedral
Location
Country	Lesotho
Statistics
Area	7,739 km2 (2,988 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2022) 987,222 495,181 (50.2%)
Parishes	36
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	May 8, 1894 (1894-05-08)
Cathedral	Our Lady of Victories Cathedral
Secular priests	62
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	Gerard Tlali Lerotholi

History

• 8 May 1894: Established as Apostolic Prefecture of Basutoland from the Apostolic Vicariate of Kimberley in Orange in South Africa
• 18 February 1909: Promoted as Apostolic Vicariate of Basutoland
• 11 January 1951: Promoted as Diocese of Maseru
• 3 January 1961: Promoted as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Maseru

Leadership

Prefects Apostolic of Basutoland

• Father Jules-Joseph Cénez, OMI (1895 – 25 January 1909); see below

Vicars Apostolic of Basutoland

• Jules-Joseph Cénez, OMI (25 January 1909 – 24 May 1930); see above
• Joseph Bonhomme, OMI (25 April 1933 – 8 March 1947)
• Joseph Delphis Des Rosiers, OMI (11 March 1948 – 11 January 1951); see below

Bishops of Maseru

• Joseph Delphis Des Rosiers, OMI (11 January 1951 – 3 January 1961), appointed Bishop of Qacha’s Nek; see above

Archbishops of Maseru

• Emanuel Mabathoana, OMI (3 January 1961 – 20 September 1966)
• Alfonso Liguori Morapeli, OMI (13 April 1967 – 17 May 1989)
• Bernard Mohlalisi, OMI (11 June 1990 – 30 June 2009)
• Gerard Tlali Lerotholi (30 June 2009 – present)

Suffragan dioceses

• Leribe
• Mohale’s Hoek
• Qacha’s Nek

See also

• Catholic Church in Lesotho
• List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Lesotho

Sources

• GCatholic.org