TUNISIA, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN

The Republic of Tunisia is located on the coast of North Africa, and is bordered on the north and east by the

Mediterranean Sea, on the southeast by Libya and on the west by Algeria. The semi-forested hills of the north transition to salt marches under the hot, dry climate of the central region, while the south is a desert with few oasis. Natural resources include phosphate deposits in the central regions, as well as petroleum, iron ore, zinc, lead and natural gas deposits offshore. Agricultural production includes grains, olives, grapes, dates and citrus. Tourism is a mainstay of the Tunisian economy.

A French protectorate since the late 19th century, Tunisia gained its independence in 1955. Political upheaval in the early 1980s resulted in a coup that returned the country to multiparty politics. The country's neutrality during the Gulf War in the late 20th century cost it U.S. aid, although government efforts to privatize industry promised a stable economy in the early 21st century. Most Tunisians are ethnic Arabs.

History . A land of strategic importance in the ancient world, Tunisia was devastated by the vandals in the 5th century and invaded by the Muslims in the 7th century. Due to the presence of the slave trade along its coast, few Christians entered the region until after slavery had been suppressed in the early 19th century. Pope Gregory XVI made the Prefecture of Tunis into a vicariate in 1843. In 1881 Tunisia became a French protectorate. In that same year Archbishop, later Cardinal, C. M.A. lavigerie of Algiers (d. 1892) was appointed administrator of the prefecture. Three years later, while retaining the See of Algiers, Monsignor Lavigerie also became archbishop of Carthage and primate of Africa, the Archdiocese of Carthage encompassing the whole of Tunisia. Much of Cardinal Lavigerie's energy during the last eight years of his life was devoted to restoring the ancient See of Carthage. In addition to providing for the spiritual needs of the 50,000 Europeans living in Tunisia, Lavigerie opened the College of St. Louis for the Muslim population, confiding it to the White Fathers.

The region declared its independence from France on March 20, 1956. During the following year, the bey (provincial governor) was overthrown and Tunisia was proclaimed a republic under the control of President Habib Bourguiba, with a new constitution announced on June 1, 1959. Along with some Italians, French Europeans constituted the major Christian element in Tunisia, and when the country became independent, large numbers of them left the country, fearing reprisals. Relations with France deteriorated still further in the late 1950s, the result of skirmishes between Tunisian and French troops along the Algerian border and the retaliatory bombing of a Tunisian village by French military planes. The dispute lasted until October of 1963.

For the most part, those Catholics who remained in Tunisia following independence lived in towns, with the result that rural parishes fell into disuse. The number of priests proportionately diminished; among those priests remaining by the latter part of the 20th century were the White Fathers whose center for Arabic studies (Institut des Belles Lettres Arabes) was much appreciated by Muslim intellectuals for its pervading spirit of a deep, friendly and disinterested knowledge of the country.

An agreement of July 10, 1964, concluded between the Holy See and the Bourguiba government radically altered the situation of the Church in Tunisia. The Archdiocese of Carthage was suppressed and replaced by the Prelature of Tunis, which was made a diocese in 1995. Only seven churches, of which two were in Tunis, remained the property of the new prelature; more than 100 others, many of which had become vacant, were handed over, without compensation, to the Tunisian state, which converted them to civil uses. The cathedral of Carthage was transformed into a museum. Only Church-run educational and nursing institutes, including the hospital in Tunis, were allowed to carry on their activities.

Although the government of Tunisia strengthened its ties with the Arab world during the mid-1960s, the withdrawal of French financial aid from the region greatly harmed the economy. In 1987 a coup was staged against President Bourguiba, who was declared mentally unfit to fulfill his duties. Under a constitutional amendment, a multi-party system was established and free elections were held for the first time in 30 years in April of 1989. Zine el-Abidine ben Ali was elected president with no opposition, and under his administration the government began to gradually privatize local industries, encourage foreign trade and stabilize the nation's economy. Under the constitution, Islam was the state religion, although the Catholic Church was granted special status due to its formal recognition by the government.

By 2000 there were 13 parishes in Tunis, tended by 15 secular and 20 religious priests. The Church owned five churches and seven cultural centers. Religious included fewer than ten brothers and 175 sisters, who administered the nation's eight primary and five Catholic secondary schools, most of their students Muslims. The Church in Tunisia encouraged its faithful to live among the Muslim majority in a spirit of disinterested service, making what contribution they could toward creating a secure quality of life for all Tunisians. While Islamic fundamentalism began to gain a foothold in Tunisia during the early 1990s, the government responded by cracking down on all Muslim militants.

For the region's early ecclesiastical history, see carthage.

Bibliography: a. pons, La Nouvelle Église d'Afrique (Tunis 1930). l. baunard, Le Cardinal Lavigerie, 2 v. (Paris 1898). Revue de l'Institut des belles lettres arabes (IBLA) des Pères Blancs (Tunis 1937–). Bilan du Monde 2:857–863.

[j. cuoq/eds.]