Apostolic prefect

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An apostolic prefect is the missionary head of a particular church of the Roman Catholic Church, known as apostolic prefecture, in missionary regions and countries where no diocese is yet established.

A prefect apostolic (an alternate term) only rarely is a titular bishop but is normally a priest. If a prefecture grows and flourishes, it is elevated to an Apostolic vicariate, which is headed by a bishop, though it is again not yet a diocese. In both cases, the hope is that with time the region will generate enough Catholics, and enough stability for its Catholic institutions, to warrant being "erected" into its own diocese.

The usual sequence of development is mission, to prefecture, to apostolic vicariate, to diocese.

They are to be distinguished from a territorial abbacy (or "abbey nullius").

[edit] History

During the last centuries of the second millennium it was the practice of the Holy See to govern either through prefects Apostolic, or through vicars Apostolic, many of the territories (called respectively prefectures Apostolic and vicariates Apostolic) where no dioceses with resident bishops exist when, owing to local circumstances, such as the character and customs of the people, the hostility of the civil powers and the like, it was doubtful whether an episcopal see could be permanently established. The establishing of a mere prefecture Apostolic in a place supposes that the Church has attained there only a small development. A fuller development leads to the foundation of a vicariate Apostolic, as intermediate stage between a prefecture and a diocese.

A Prefect Apostolic is of lower rank than a vicar; his powers are more limited, nor has he, as a rule, the episcopal character, as is ordinarily the case with a Vicar Apostolic. The duties of a prefect Apostolic consist in directing the work of the mission entrusted to his care; his powers are in general those necessarily connected with the ordinary administration of such an office, as, for instance, the assigning of missionaries, the making of regulations for the good management of the affairs of his mission, and the like. Until Vaticanum II, he had extraordinary faculties for several cases reserved otherwise to the Apostolic See, such as absolutions from censures, dispensations from matrimonial impediments and the faculty of consecrating chalices, patens, and portable altars, and some had the power to administer Confirmation.

The prefects Apostolic above have independent territories and are subject only to the Holy See. In the past, when a vicariate or a diocese extended over a very large territory, in which the Catholic population is unequally distributed, the Holy See sometimes placed a portion of such territory in charge of a prefect Apostolic; in which case the faculties of the prefect were more limited, and in the exercise of his office he depended on the vicar Apostolic or the diocesan bishop, whose consent he needed for the exercise of many of his functions, and to whose supervision his administration was subject. With a view to still better protecting the authority of the local vicar Apostolic or bishop, it was proposed in the First Vatican Council to abolish this second class of prefects Apostolic having jurisdiction over districts within the limits of a vicariate or diocese of the Latin Rite; but the existing order remained unchanged owing to the interruption of that Council. Pope Leo XIII then abolished this class of prefects Apostolic within the limits of territories subject to Oriental Churches by a Decree of the Propaganda Fide (12 September 1896), and substituted superiors with special dependence on the delegates Apostolic of the respective places.

There were 66 prefectures Apostolic in 1911: in Europe, 5; Asia, 17; North America, 3 (e.g. of the Yukon); South America, 11; Africa, 23; Oceania, 7.

The entire missionary structure of the Catholic Church underwent major reorganization with the Second Vatican Council, the issuance of Lumen Gentium and the decree Ad Gentes, the reorganization of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith ('Propaganda Fide') as the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the separation of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches from Propagation of the Faith, the issuance of the Code of Canon Law in 1983 and the Code of Canon Law for the Oriental Churches in 1990.

Apostolic prefectures thus fell out of use in the 20th century, as most traditional mission areas had reached a further stage of development. However Pope John Paul II started to create some again, particularly in China.

[edit] Present Apostolic prefectures

In May 2006, there were 45, all of the Roman rite

In China: Ankang 安康 / Hinganfu / Xing′an, Baoqing 保慶 / Paoking, Guilin 桂林 / Kweilin, Hainan 海南 / Hainan, Haizhou, Donghai 海州 / Haichow, Jiamusi 佳木斯 / Kiamusze, Jian′ou 建甌 / Kienow, Lingling 零岭 / Yungchow / Yongzhou 永州, Linqing 臨清 / Lintsing, Lintong 臨潼 / Lintung , Lixian 澧縣 / Lichow / Lizhou 澧州, Qiqihar 齊齊哈爾 / Tsitsibar, Shaowu 邵武 / Shaowu, Shashi 沙市 / Shasi, Shiqian 石阡 / Shihtsien, Suixian 隨縣 / Suihsien, Tongzhou 同州 / Tungchow, Tunxi 屯溪 / Tunki, Weihaiwei 威海衛 / Weihaiwei, Xiangtan 湘潭 / Siangtan, Xining 西寧 / Sining, Xinjiang 新絳 / Kiangchow / Jiangzhou 絳州, Xinjiang 新疆 / Sinkiang / Urumqi 烏魯木齊, Xinxiang 新鄉 / Sinsiang, Yangzhou 揚州 / Yangchow, Yiduxian 益都縣 / Iduhsien, Yixian 易縣 / Yihsien, Yueyang 岳陽 / Yochow / Yuezhou 岳州, Zhaotong 昭通 / Chaotung

Elsewhere in Asia: