Catholics on the Maldives Islands
There is no Catholic church in the Maldives today: the country is defined as a Sunni Muslim nation, the constitution does not recognize the citizenship of those who do not profess Islam and the public veneration of other religions is prohibited. Catholics present in the archipelago are almost exclusively foreign workers and visitors, who live their faith in the discretion of the heart and home.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- The pastoral care of the Maldives has been the responsibility of the archdiocese of Colombo (Sri Lanka) since 1886: there has never been a territorial Catholic jurisdiction of its own in the archipelago.
- The Christian faith surrounded these islands in the 16th century: in 1558 the Portuguese established a small garrison administered from Goa and there were missionary attempts, but the revolt led by Muhammad Thakurufaanu expelled the Portuguese a few years later and Catholicism disappeared.
- In 1833, the Holy See authorized the apostolic vicar of Pondicherry, Clément Bonnand, to send missionaries to the Maldives, as the Anals of Propaganda Fide gather; that commitment did not come to take root.
- Today Christians are around only 0.29% of the population (date 2020), just over half of them Catholics, almost all of them foreigners; even having a Bible or rosary can lead to arrest, as happened to an Indian worker in 2011. His hidden faith is a silent form of fidelity.
Catholics in Maldives
In the Maldives there are no Catholic temples or Christian public veneration: the law prohibits it. And yet the Church does not forget the faithful who work on its islands, entrusted since 1886 to the pastor of Colombo. Where an altar cannot be raised, the Virgin keeps the faith prayed in the hidden.
"Holy Mary, Mother of those who pray in the hidden, support the faith of the Christians of the Maldives.
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