Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nouméa

The Archdiocese of Nouméa (Latin: Archidioecesis Numeanus; French: Archidiocèse de Nouméa) is a Metropolitan Archdiocese in New Caledonia, established in 1966. It is responsible for the suffragan dioceses of Port-Vila and Wallis et Futuna.

Archdiocese of Nouméa Archidioecesis Numeanus Archidiocèse de Nouméa
Nouméa Cathedral
Location
Country	New Caledonia, France
Ecclesiastical province	Noumea
Statistics
Area	19,103 km2 (7,376 sq mi)
Population Total Catholics	(as of 2004) 210,000 110,000 (52.4%)
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	23 July 1847 (As Vicariate Apostolic of Nouvelle-Calédonie) 21 June 1966 (Archdiocese of Nouméa)
Cathedral	Cathedral of St. Joseph in Nouméa
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Metropolitan Archbishop	Susitino Sionepoe
Suffragans	Diocese of Wallis et Futuna Diocese of Port-Vila
Bishops emeritus	Michel-Marie-Bernard Calvet
Website
Website of the Archdiocese

Beginnings

From early 1836 the territory of New Caledonia had been notionally part of the vast Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceania, established by the Holy See on 10 January 1836. Given the immense dimensions of this Church jurisdiction, preliminary surveys on the spot soon gave rise to its gradual subdivision into smaller units, though these still covered enormous tracts of ocean, dotted with almost uncountable numbers of islands.

As part of this process, the history of the Catholic Church in New Caledonia took an important step closer to achieving formal shape on 27 June 1847, with the establishment of the Vicariate Apostolic of New Caledonia, from which the current Archdiocese largely derives.

The first head of the new Vicariate was, as is customary, a titular bishop. The choice fell on Bishop Guillaume Douarre, who had been a Marist Father and in 1842 had been appointed Coadjutor to the Vicar Apostolic of Central Oceania and ordained a bishop not many days later in Lyon, France, before setting sail for the Pacific islands, not yet 32 years of age. Once in New Caledonia, Bishop Douarre remained there only until 20 Aug 1850, when he was appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Archipelago of the Navigators.^[1] He died there not three years later, on 27 June 1853.^[2]

Ordinaries

• Guillaume Douarre, S. M. (1847–1850), transferred then to be Vicar Apostolic of the Archipelago of the Navigators.
• Pierre Rougeyron, S. M. (1855–1873)
• Pierre-Ferdinand Vitte, S. M. (1873–1880)
• Alphonse-Hilarion Fraysse, S. M. (1880–1905)
• Claude-Marie Chanrion, S. M. (1905–1937)
• Édouard Bresson, S. M. (1937–1956)
• Pierre-Paul-Émile Martin, S. M. (1956–1972)
• Eugène Klein, M.S.C. (1972–1981)
• Michel-Marie-Bernard Calvet, S. M. (1981–14 January 2025)
• Susitino Sionepoe, S.M. (appointed 14 January 2025)