Roman Catholicism in Western Sahara

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The Roman Catholic Church in Western Sahara is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.

It is one of the least Catholic countries in the world; the church is largely composed of expatriate Spaniards. There are little over one hundred Catholics in the country out of a total population of around 400,000. There are no dioceses in the country, which forms a single apostolic prefecture. Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony and prior to Spain abandoning the country in 1975, there were over 20,000 Spanish Catholics who left the country on General Franco's orders.