Bujumbura, 24 July, 2023 / 9:20 pm (ACI Africa).
Major Seminaries in Burundi have been forced to regulate their enrollment as the number of young people seeking to join Priestly and Religious Life continues to rise in the Eastern African country.
According to information gathered by the Catholic Pontifical and charity foundation, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, Major Seminaries in Burundi have set the number of those enrolled to 13 owing to their insufficient resources.
“In recent years, Burundi has experienced a boom in vocations to the consecrated life and the priesthood, so there is a large number of applications to enter the seminaries, this number is increasing year after year. However, due to the poor economic situation, the seminaries cannot accept all the candidates, so the number of new applicants is limited to thirteen,” Maxime François-Marsal, ACN's project manager for the French-speaking countries of Central Africa says in a Monday, July 24 report.
Maxime notes that two-thirds of Burundian Christians identify themselves as Catholic.
Burundi has eight Catholic Dioceses; two are vacant. The country has four Major Seminaries and one more is currently under construction in the country’s Diocese of Bubanza with the help of ACN, which is also donating towards the formation of Priests.