Mission sui iuris

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A Mission sui iuris, or in Latin Missio sui iuris, also known as Independent mission, is a rare type of Catholic missionary pseudo-diocesan jurisdiction in an area with very few Catholics, often desolate or remote.

The clerical head is styled Ecclesiastical Superior; he can be a regular cleric, bishop or archbishop and even a cardinal, but if of high rank often resides elsewhere (notably in another diocese or the Vatican) in chief of his primary office.

[edit] Present mission(e)s sui iuris

In April 2006, the only cases -all of the Roman rite- were:

In Asia:

Afghanistan
Baku (capital of independent Azerbaijan)
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan

In the Atlantic Ocean:

Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha

In the Caribean:

Cayman Island, in the ecclesiastical province of the Archbishop of Kingston (in Jamaica)
Turks and Caicos Islands, in the ecclesiastical province of the Archbishop of Nassau (in the Bahamas)

In Oceania:

Funafuti, in Tuvalu, in the ecclesiastical province of the Archbishop of Apia (on Samoa)
Tokelau, in the ecclesiastical province of the Archbishop of Apia

Those for which no province is named are exempt, i.e directly under Rome.