Roman Catholic Diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago

Diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago

*Diœcesis Samoa–Pagopagensis*
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 (including non-members)	(as of 2010); 68,000; 14,000 (20.6%)
Parishes	16
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	September 10, 1982 (39 years ago)
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Holy Family (Tafuna)
Co-cathedral	Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph the Worker (Fagatogo)
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Peter Brown
Bishops emeritus	John Quinn Weitzel M.M.
Map

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago (Latin: Diœcesis Samoa–Pagopagensis) is a Latin 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]

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 M.M., and appointed the Rev. Peter Brown, C.Ss.R., 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 September 10, 1982,^[2] taking territory from what once was a unified Diocese of Samoa and Tokelau, the remainder of which became its present Metropolitan.

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

Episcopal ordinaries[]

Bishops of Samoa–Pago Pago[]

John Quinn Weitzel, M.M. (1986–2013)
Peter Brown, C.Ss.R. (2013–present)

Coat of arms[]

The proposal of coat of arms created Marek Sobola, a heraldic specialist from Slovakia. The colors of the new coat of arms are derived from the national colors of American Samoa. Heraldic figures of the coat of arms: Bald eagle - the national symbol, gold and silver lily - symbols of Pope Paul VI and John Paul II. These two popes contributed to the development of the diocese.^[3]