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Latin Catholic missionary jurisdiction in the Pacific From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Apostolic Prefecture of the Marshall Islands (Latin: Praefectura Apostolica Insularum Marshallensium) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or apostolic prefecture of the Catholic Church in the Marshall Islands.
Apostolic Prefecture of the Marshall Islands Praefectura Apostolica Insularum Marshallensium | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Country |  |
| Ecclesiastical province | Agaña |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 69 sq mi (180 km2) |
| Population - Total - Catholics | (as of 2021) 59,000 5,123 (8.7%) |
| Parishes | 5 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 23 April 1993 (31 years ago) |
| Cathedral | Cathedral of the Assumption (Majuro) |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Apostolic Prefect | Fr. Ariel Galido, M.S.C. |
| Map | |
| |
The apostolic prefecture is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Agaña (with its see on Guam), yet still depends on the Dicastery for Evangelization.
Although the see of the prefecture, the Cathedral of the Assumption, in Majuro, on Majuro Atoll, is not in the United States, the prelature includes Wake Island, which is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States.
As of 2021[update], there were 5,123 Catholics (8.7% of the population) on 181 km2 of islands in a marine area nearly the size of the United States, served by 6 priests, 3 deacons and 6 nuns across 5 parishes.[1][2]
Missionaries from the Order of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (M.S.C.) arrived in 1898.[3] In 1905, a pre-diocesan jurisdiction was established as Mission sui juris of Marshall Islands, on territory split off from the then Apostolic Vicariate of New Pomerania (mainly New Britain, in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea).
On April 5, 1923, the independent mission was suppressed, its territory being merged into the then Apostolic Vicariate of Mariana, Caroline and Marshall Islands.
On April 23, 1993, Pope John Paul II split the former Diocese of Carolines-Marshalls into the Apostolic Prefecture of the Marshall Islands and the Diocese of Caroline Islands. In 2007, Father James Gould, apostolic prefect, resigned. Father Raymundo Sabio, a Filipino missionary, was chosen to succeed him.[4]
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