THE Pope has created two new dioceses in the Republic of Mali. Both will have White Fathers as their first bishops. Mgr. Didier de Montclos has been appointed to the See of Sikasso, and Mgr. Stephen Courtois to the See of Kayes.
Mali was entrusted to the White Fathers in the last century, but the areas covered by the new dioceses have only been opened up during the last thirty years.
Both are difficult territories. Keyes, in the north-west of Mali. on the River Senegal, has less than 5.000 Catholics scattered over 68.000 square miles. Sikasso, near the border with the Upper Volta and the Ivory Coast. has only 770 Catholics in a population of over half a million.