Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese


Day 30: Diocese of Oran


Not surprising that there is some sort of Catholic hierarchy in Algeria, given the long history with the French, but not surprisingly things are in a bit of a decline since independence. Not sure if it makes sense to have an entire diocese for 400 people (and it's worth wondering if it's still 400 if that's been the quoted figure since 1999). but given the long history of the church there I suppose it's understandable. Though not always easy - in 1996, Bishop Pierre Lucien Claverie was killed during Algeria's civil war, probably by Islamic extremists but possibly by the sitting government (at least that's how it reads to me based on websites Google translated from French, you can imagine what reading that was like).