The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has raised the Diocese of Johannesburg to
the status of a Metropolitan Archdiocese and has appointed the Most Reverend Buti Joseph Tlhagale, OMI, as
its first Metropolitan Archbishop. The
announcement was made on June 5, 2007 in Rome.
Advice from the Apostolic Nuncio, Abp James Green, to the South African Conference of Catholic Bishops,
(SACBC) on the creation of this new Archdiocese in South Africa, carried with
it information as to a realignment of certain other Metropolitan Archdioceses
and their suffragan Sees. Ecclesiastical structures are now as follows:
- The Archdiocese of Pretoria, with the suffragan Sees of Tzaneen,
Pietersburg, Rustenburg and Gaborone (Botswana);
- The Archdiocese of Johannesburg with the suffragan Sees of Manzini
(Swaziland), Klerksdorp and Witbank;
- The Archdiocese of Bloemfontein, with the suffragan Sees of Bethlehem,
Keimoes - Upington, Kimberley and Kroonstad.
The Metropolitan Archdioceses of
Durban
and
Cape Town, along with their suffragan dioceses, remain unaffected by the
realignment.
Contributed by Site Administrator
