Uganda

Catholic life in Uganda is vibrantly expressed in a wide range of ways, from Marian devotion to crowded, life-filled liturgies to celebration of the example of the Ugandan martyrs to charismatic forms of prayer. Catholic and Anglican churches have drawn the bulk of believers for many years, but Muslims are also integrated into ordinary life, and elements of traditional religion still inflect the beliefs of most Ugandans. Pentecostal churches have made significant inroads in the last two decades.

The Ugandan Martyrs (1886) are celebrated here as founders of Catholic faith in East Africa, and as Catholic ancestral intermediaries with God. Their annual June 3 feast at the Shrine of the Ugandan Martyrs at Namagungo, near Kampala, is almost certainly among the largest annual religious gatherings in the world. Read more...

Demographics

  • 1. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision, Online Edition.
  • 2.United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 revision.
  • 3.United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Homicide Statistics 2015.
  • 4.Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2016.
  • 5.UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 2016.
  • 6. Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022).
  • 7.World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report, 2016.

Footnotes