The Archdiocese of Luanda is the oldest Roman Catholic archdiocese in Angola. Its cathedral is the Church of Our Lady of Remedies (Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios) in Luanda.

History

The diocese was founded in 1596 as the Diocese of Angola e Congo (Angola and Kongo) or São Salvador de Congo, on territory split off from the Roman Catholic Diocese of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its original cathedral was the Cathedral of the Holy Saviour of Congo. The metropolitan bishop was the Patriarch of Lissabon, from 1676-1844 the Primate of Brazil. In 1716, the episcopal see was relocated from São Salvador to Luanda. It was elevated to an Archdiocese on 4 September 1940. Since the death of Archbishop Damião António Franklin, the 21st man to hold that position, on 28 April 2014, the seat is occupied by Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias.

Statistics

As of 2004, the archdiocese was home to approximately 4.84 million people, approximately 3.06 million of them being Roman Catholic (63.1%). There are approximately 150 priests serving the over 3 million Catholics.

List of bishops and archbishops

Auxiliary bishops

Suffragan dioceses