The Roman Catholic Church in Fiji is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

 and curia

Curia

A curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs...

 in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

.

Demographics and organization

There are approximately 80,000 Catholics in Fiji, just under 10% of the total population. The whole of the country forms a single archdiocese, the Archdiocese of Suva

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Suva

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Suva is a Metropolitan Archdiocese in Fiji. It is responsible for the suffragan dioceses of Rarotonga and Tarawa and Nauru.-Ordinaries:*Jean-Baptiste Breheret, S. M. *Julien Vidal, S. M....

. The 1996 census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 revealed just over 75 percent of Catholics to be indigenous Fijians

Fijian people

Fijian people are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. The Fijian people are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown...

 and 5 percent Indo-Fijians

Indians in Fiji

Indo-Fijians are Fijians whose ancestors came from India and various parts of South Asia, South-East Asia and Asia itself. They number 313,798 out of a total of 827,900 people living in Fiji...

, with minority communities making up the balance. The present leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Fiji is Archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

 Petero Mataca

Petero Mataca

Petero Mataca is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Suva, Fiji. After his education at St. John's College, Cawaci, he was ordained as a priest on 20 December 1959...

, and Vicar-General is Father Ben Kaloudau.