Territory Samoa Parishes 38 Rite Roman Rite Archbishop Alapati Lui Mataeliga | Ecclesiastical province Samoa-Apia Denomination Catholic Church Area 2,922 km² Country Samoa | |
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Population
- Total
- Catholics (as of 2010)
189,000
42,500 (22.5%) | ||
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Samoa–Apia (Latin: Archidioecesis Samoa–Apiana; Samoan: Puleaga Fa'aAkiepikopo Samoa–Apia) consists of the Independent State of Samoa.
Contents
History
In 1842, the Propaganda Fide created the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Oceania that included New Caledonia, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji Islands. This lost territory with establishment by canonical erection by the Holy See on August 20, 1850, of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Navigators' Archipelago, entrusted to the Society of Mary (Marists). On January 4, 1957, the Vatican changed the name of the Vicariate Apostolic to Samoa and the Tokelau Islands.
The vicariate apostolic was elevated to the Diocese of Apia on June 21, 1966, and made suffragan to the metropolitan see of Suva, Fiji. On August 10, 1974, the name of the diocese was changed to Diocese of Apia o Samoa and Tokelau; and it was changed again on December 3, 1975 to the Diocese of Samoa and Tokelau.
On September 10, 1982, the diocese was elevated to the dignity of an archdiocese taking the name of the See city, Apia. Simultaneously, the Diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago was created from a portion of the former Diocese of Samoa Tokelau and made suffragan to the metropolitan see of Apia.