Diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago

The Diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago (Latin: Diœcesis Samoa–Pagopagensis) is a Latin Church suffragan diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States overseas dependency of American Samoa, in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Samoa–Apia.^[1]

Diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago Diœcesis Samoa–Pagopagensis
Coat of arms
Location
Country	United States
Territory	American Samoa
Ecclesiastical province	Samoa-Apia
Statistics
Area	76 sq mi (200 km2)
Population Total Catholics	(as of 2010) 68,000 14,000 (20.6%)
Parishes	16
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	10 September 1982 (42 years ago)
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Holy Family (Tafuna)
Co-cathedral	Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph the Worker (Fagatogo)
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Bishop	Kolio Etuale
Metropolitan Archbishop	Alapati Lui Mataeliga
Bishops emeritus	John Quinn Weitzel Peter Brown
Map

The ordinary is a bishop whose seat is the Cathedral of the Holy Family in the Tafuna. He is also pastor of the co-cathedral of Saint Joseph the Worker in Fagatogo.

On Friday, May 31, 2013, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop John Quinn Weitzel, and appointed Peter Brown, the Regional Superior of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer also known as the Redemptorist Congregation in New Zealand, as bishop-elect of the diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago. Brown was ordained as a bishop on August 22, 2013.

History

It was canonically erected on 10 September 1982,^[2] from a unified diocese of Samoa and Tokelau, the bulk of which became its present metropolitan.

It enjoyed a papal visit from Pope Paul VI in November 1970.

Leadership

Apostolic administrator

• Cardinal Pio Taofinuʻu (1982–1986)

Ordinaries

• John Quinn Weitzel (1986–2013)
• Peter Brown (2013–2023)
• Kolio Etuale (2023–present)