Catholicism in Somalia: no churches remain, few remaining Catholics scattered

Vatican Radio provides a grim update on the situation in Somalia, a country that has been ruled by competing warlords, lacking an effective national government for more than 20 years.

After years of violence and, “all churches and church buildings have been destroyed” in the mostly Islamic country, Vatican Radio reports. There are only about 100 Catholics still scattered across the country.

Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti, who doubles as apostolic administrator of the capital Mogadishu, is in contact with those few Catholics only by phone; he has not been able to visit Somalia for months. The last resident Bishop of Mogadishu, Bishop Pietro Salvatore Colombo OMF) was killed in 1989.