Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristóbal de La Laguna Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristóbal de La Laguna The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristóbal de La Laguna (), also called Diocese of Tenerife or Diocese Nivariense, is a diocese located in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna in the Canary Islands in the Ecclesiastical province of Sevilla in Spain. The diocese includes the islands of Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The bishop of this diocese is Bernardo Álvarez Afonso. The arrival of Christianity to the western islands of the Canaries took place (as in the
La Gomera built pyres upon which to make offerings of goats and sheep to their god. This same god, Orahan, was known on La Palma as Abora and on Tenerife and Gran Canaria as Arocan. The Guanches also interred their dead in caves. Today, saints, who are worshipped through village festivals, are principally connected with Christianity. But in some aspects, the Guanches’ god-like idealising of Gomeran uniqueness plays a role as well besides their pre-Christian and pre-colonial implication and shows strong local differences. Christopher Columbus made La Gomera his last port of call before crossing the Atlantic in 1492 with his three