Territory Falkland Islands Denomination Roman Catholic Area 12,173 km² | Parishes 1 Rite Latin Rite | |
 | ||
Ecclesiastical province Immediately subject to the Holy See Population
- Total
- Catholics (as of 2010)
3,000
300 (10.0%) Country Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) | ||
The Apostolic Prefecture of Falkland Islands (Latin: Apostolica Præfectura de Insulis Falkland) is a Roman Catholic apostolic prefecture (missionary circoncscription) located in the Falkland Islands and covering the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, UK Southern Atlantic Ocean overseas possessions, off Argentina and Antarctica.
Contents
- History
- Mission Sui Iuris of Saint Helena Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha
- Incumbent ordinaries
- References
It is exempt, i.e. immediately subject to the Holy See, not part of an ecclesiastical province. Its only church on the actual Falklands is its episcopal see, St Mary's, in the Falklands capital Stanley. Christ Church Cathedral is not a Catholic church and is the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world, consecrated in 1892.
History
The Latin missionary jurisdiction was established on 1 October 1952 as Apostolic Prefecture, splitting the offshore territory of Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands from the Diocese of Punta Arenas in Chile.
Mission Sui Iuris of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha
An exempt mission sui juris has been created, on 18 August 1986, for the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, comprising the Atlantic ocean islands of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, off the West African coasts, splitting these territories from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town.
It comprises a church or chapel on each dependent island :
From the start, the office of its ecclesiastical superior (also exempt, i.e. immediately subject to the Holy See) has been vested in the Apostolic Prefect of the Falklands, a fellow UK Southern Atlantic overseas possession.
Incumbent ordinaries
So far, all incumbents were members of Roman rite missionary congregations, none titular bishops