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Christianity is a small minority religion in Mauritania.
In 2020, the estimated Christian population amount was only 0.23% of the population.[1] There are between 10,000 and 11,000 Christians in Mauritania in 2023, mostly foreign expatriates.[2][3]
All of the roughly 4,000 Catholics in Mauritania are within the country's only diocese, the Diocese of Nouakchott. In 2020, there were 11 priests and 34 nuns serving 5 parishes.[4]
There are several expatriate African churches in Mauritania, though there are no more than 200 Protestants in the country, including foreigners.
In spite of a strict law against evangelization, the Mauritanian Christian community has grown and there were estimated to be 400-1,000 ethnic Mauritanian Christians in 2010.[5] For a period of eight months the Miracle Channel, a Norwegian/Swedish Christian channel, broadcast clandestine Christian gatherings in the Mauritanian desert containing over 160 people.[6]
Issues
[edit]The distribution of Christian literature and the evangelizing of non-Muslims are prohibited by law. Bibles are rarely printed or distributed and are difficult to bring into the country.[7]
In 2023, the country was ranked as the 20th worst place in the world to be a Christian.[8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ World Religion Database at the ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-08
- ^ A. Lamport, Mark (2021). Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 497. ISBN 9781442271579.
Influences - Christian influences in Mauritanian society are limited to the approximately 10,000 foreign nationals living in the country
- ^ Open Doors website, retrieved 2023-08-08
- ^ Catholics And Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-08
- ^ World Watch List 2010: #8. Mauritania Archived 2010-10-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Troens Bevis Verdens Evangelisering - Så på Miracle Channel midt i Mauritanias ørken - Norwegian language". Archived from the original on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- ^ US State Dept 2022 report
- ^ Open Doors website, retrieved 2023-08-08