Indonesian Catholics celebrate the new diocese of Labuan Bajo

Indonesian Christians are celebrating a new diocese in the country. On 21st June, in fact, Pope Francis erected Labuan Bajo, in the Catholic-majority area of Flores Island, in the province of East NUsa Tenggara (Ntt), and appointed as its first bishop the Reverend Maksimus Regus, of the Ruteng clergy, until now rector of the local Catholic University of St. Paul. Hundreds of faithful and dozens of priests attended the announcement made by Bishop Siprianus Hormat, Bishop of Ruteng, in the Church of the Holy Spirit in Labuan Bajo, in an atmosphere of joy that involved the entire community.
The new diocese of Labuan Bajo covers an area that is now a popular tourist destination, but until a few years ago, it was still a remote area in the westernmost sector of the Indonesian archipelago that was predominantly mountainous.