Baule Wooden Figure of the Virgin Mary

Only about one-eighth of the population was Christian in the 1980s. In general, Christianity was practiced by the middle class and in urban centers of the south. It was most prevalent among the Agni and lagoon cultures of the southeast, least so among the MandÈ of the northwest. Roman Catholicism was the largest Christian religion, but Methodist, Baptist, and a number of smaller mission churches also existed Roman Catholicism made a brief appearance in CÙte d’Ivoire in the mid-seventeenth century and reappeared two centuries later when French missionaries began to work among the Agni. The first African Roman Catholic mission in CÙte d’Ivoire was established in 1895, and the first African priest was ordained in 1934.