The Catholic Church in Moshi, at the foot of the Kilimanjaro
At the foot of Kilimanjaro, the largest mountain in Africa, the city of Moshi is home to one of the most fruitful dioceses in Tanzania. There is no Marian sanctuary in the area with the title "mountain of miracle"; what does exist, and is admirable, is a living Church born of the mission: the Cathedral of Christ the King, the historic church of Kibosho and a diocesan congregation placed under the protection of the Virgin, the Sisters of Our Lady of the Kilimanjaro.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- The apostolic vicariate of the Kilimanjaro was erected on 13 September 1910 by Saint Pius X and raised to the diocese of Moshi on 25 March 1953 by Pius XII; its seat is the cathedral of Christ the King, in Moshi.
- St. John Paul II visited the diocese on his 1990 apostolic journey: he met the faithful in the Cathedral of Christ the King on 4 September and celebrated the Holy Mass at the Kilimanjaro Stadium of Moshi on 5 September.
- On the slopes of the Kilimanjaro, in Kirosho, one of the oldest Catholic churches in Tanzania was raised in stone by the missionaries in 1893 between banana plantations; the current bishop of Moshi, Ludovick Joseph Minde, was born precisely in Kirosho.
- In 1931 the spiritist bishop Henry A. Gogarty founded in the diocese the congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Kilimanjaro, placed under the patronage of the Virgin Mary, with mother house in Rombo; today he has hundreds of religious in service of schools and hospitals.
Our Lady of the Kilimanjaro
Along with the Nieves of the Kilimanjaro, the diocese of Moshi bears witness to a faith sown by the missionaries and matured in African hands: the Cathedral of Christ the King, the centenary church of Kirosho and the Sisters of Our Lady of the Kilimanjaro, who bear the name of Mary in the highest mountain of Africa.
"Our Lady of the Kilimanjaro, pray for us.
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