Diocese of Toliara
The Holy Diocese of Toliara and Southern Madagascar is a diocese under the Archdiocese of Antananarivo of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.
History
The first ecclesiastical structure established in Southern Africa was the Archdiocese of Johannesburg in 1927. In 1968, the territories outside South Africa were incorporated in the newly-established Archdiocese of Rhodesia. In 1997, during the era of Patriarch Petros VII, the Diocese of Madagascar – which was elevated to an Archdiocese in 2012 — was established, although mostly present in Northern Madagascar. A missionary center rapidly grew over the Toliara area in Southern Madagascar.
In 2015, His Beatitude the Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria was received in Toliara by the Governor of Atsimo-Andrefana, where he consecrated a church dedicated to Saint Irene and a medical clinic for the native population. There are over nine churches in Toliara, which provide water, clothing and financial support to the tribes nearby. The diocese also runs a school for six hundred children.
On November 26, 2018 the see of Toliara was established under the Archdiocese of Antananarivo by a Patriarchal and Synodal Decree of Patriarch Theodoros II. In the following year, Archmandrite Prodromos Katsoulis, a pious Greek missionary and hegumen to Central Africa, was elected Bishop of Toliara.
Ruling bishop
- Prodromos (Katsoulis) 2019–Present