General Information

(To see more details go to the official Rome page)

The Diocese of Hoima, whose evangelization was spearheaded by the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), was erected on 9 August 1965, being made up of areas cut from the then Fort Portal Diocese and Lubaga Archdiocese. It started with 7 Parishes which have over time grown to be 42. Currently, Hoima Diocese comprises seven civil administrative districts of Hoima, Masindi, Kiryandongo, Buliisa, Kibaale, Kagadi and Kakumiro. It is a suffragan of the ecclesiastical Province of Mbarara Archdiocese.

About 25% of the entire population are settlers and refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, the Sudan, and other national ethnic groups. Its Patron Saints are St. Joseph, Protector of the Church and St. Andrea Kaahwa, one of the 22 Uganda martyrs, a native of the Diocese hailing from Kooki in Bukuumi Parish.
The first Bishop was Rt. Rev. Cyprian Dr. Kihangire who later became the first African Bishop of Gulu and died on 1 November 1990. The Rt. Rev. Albert Edward Dr. Baharagate succeeded Dr. Kihangire on 5 October 1969.

Rt. Rev. Albert Edward Dr. Baharagate (Bishop Emeritus) was born at Nyamigisa, Masindi, on 25 February 1930. He was ordained priest at Nyamigisa Parish, Masindi, on 7 December 1958, ordained Bishop, together with 11 others, on 1 August 1969 by Blessed Pope Paul IV at Kololo, Kampala on the Pope’s first visit to Africa. He was installed Bishop of Hoima on 5 October 1969 and retired due to poor health, on 9 March 1991.

The third in succession was Rt. Rev. Deogratias Dr. Muganwa Byabazaire. Born at Karujubu, Masindi District, on 9 October 1941, he was ordained Priest at Bujumbura, Hoima, on 9 August 1969, ordained Bishop (Coadjutor) on 18 August 1990 and installed Bishop of Hoima on 9 March 1991. Bishop Deogratias Muganwa Byabazaire died on the morning of 8 February 2014 at Entebbe Airport on his way back from treatment in India after a long illness that had beset him since 2006.

From 13 November 2009, the diocese was under the care of the Rt. Rev. Lambert Bainomugisha as an apostolic administrator. Bishop Lambert was Born 12 July 1961 at Kashumba, Bukanga in Mbarara District. He was Ordained Priest on 13 July 1991 at Mbarara. On 2 July 2005 he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese of Mbarara and Titular Bishop of Tacia, Montana. He was ordained Bishop on 1 October 2005, at Mbarara. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Apostolic Administrator “sede plena et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis” of Hoima Diocese, an office he occupied up to February 28, 2016.

On November 30th 2015, Pope Francis appointed The Rt. Rev. Vincent Kirabo bishop of Hoima. He was consecrated and enthroned on February 28, 2016 at Hoima Cathedral. Bishop Kirabo was born on October 1st, 1955. After primary school in Kahunde and O’level at St. John Bosco Minor Seminary, Hoima, he began philosophical studies at the Uganda Martyrs’ National Major Seminary Alokulum in Gulu. After having completed theological studies at St. Mary’s National Seminary in Ggaba, he was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Hoima on 9th September 1979.