Vatican Enters into Agreement with São Tomé and Príncipe on Catholic Church Recognition

Aboard the papal plane, 20 August, 2022 / 4:30 PM

The Vatican has signed an agreement with the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe on the recognition of the Catholic Church and her ecclesiastical institutions as a “juridical personality” in the African Island country.

In a Tuesday, August 16 press release by the Holy See press office, the agreement which happened on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, marked on Monday, August 15, took place in the “meeting room” of the Foreign Ministry in São Tomé.

In the press release, the leadership of the Holy See says that the agreement that is “drawn up in Italian and Portuguese and composed of 28 articles will come into force with the exchange of the instruments of ratification”.

"The agreement establishes the recognition of the juridical personality of the Catholic Church and ecclesiastical institutions and defines the juridical framework of the relations between the Church and the State," the leadership of the Holy See says in the August 16 press release.

Signed on August 15, the Vatican indicates that "the agreement further consolidates the bonds of friendship and collaboration existing between the two parties, which, while safeguarding their own independence and autonomy, undertake to collaborate for the spiritual and material well-being of the human person, thus as for the promotion of the common good."

The August 16 press release indicates that the Apostolic Nuncio to São Tomé and Príncipe, Archbishop Giovanni Gaspari, signed the agreement on behalf of the Holy See. Mrs. Edite Ramos da Costa Ten Jua who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Communities signed on behalf of São Tomé and Príncipe.

Located on the equator in the Gulf of Guinea, the country is made up of two main islands, namely São Tomé and Príncipe and is surrounded by a luxuriant archipelago and also bears the name of Saint Thomas as given by Portuguese navigators who discovered it in 1470.

The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe that has been independent since mid-1970s is one of the smallest African states.

With a population of 219,100 people, the country has a Catholic majority.