Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rabaul


The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rabaul is a Latin Rite Metropolitan Archdiocese in Papua New Guinea.
It has its cathedral episcopal see Sacred Heart Cathedral in Vunapope and a Co-Cathedral, St Francis Xavier's Co-Cathedral, in the national capital Rabaul.
On June 19, 2020, Rochus Josef Tatamai, M.S.C. was appointed the new Archbishop.

History

In 1844, it was established as Apostolic Vicariate of Melanesia on territory split off from the Apostolic Vicariate of Western Oceania.
On 8 December 1890, it was renamed as Apostolic Vicariate of New Pomerania.
It lost territories repeatedly, to establish :
On 14 November 1922, it was renamed after its see as Apostolic Vicariate of Rabaul.
On 5 July 1957, it lost territory again to establish the Apostolic Vicariate of Kavieng.
On 15 November 1966, it was promoted as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Rabaul.
On 4 July 2003, it lost territory to establish another suffragan see, the Diocese of Kimbe.

Coat of arms

The new coat of arms of the Archdiocese was adopted in 2016. The proposal of coat of arms created Marek Sobola, a heraldic specialist from Slovakia, who also made a coat of arms for the Archbishop Francesco Panfilo S.D.B.

Province

Its ecclesiastical province comprises, besides the Metropolitan's Archdiocese, the following suffragan bishoprics :

Ordinaries

; Apostolic Vicars of Melanesia
; Apostolic Vicars of New Britain
; Apostolic Vicar of new Pomerania
; Apostolic Vicars of Rabaul
; Metropolitan Archbishops of Rabaul