1. History

During the last centuries of the second millennium it was the practice of the Holy See to govern either through prefects apostolic or apostolic vicariates, many territories where no dioceses with resident bishops were erected and where local circumstances, such as the character and customs of the people or hostility of civil powers, made it doubtful whether an episcopal see could be permanently established. The establishing of a prefecture apostolic in a place supposes that the Church has attained only a small development in the area. Fuller growth leads to the foundation of an apostolic vicariate as an intermediate stage to becoming a diocese.

A prefect apostolic is of lower rank than a vicar apostolic. The prefect's powers are more limited and do not normally possess 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, for instance: the assigning of missionaries and the making of regulations for the good management of the affairs of the mission. Until the Second Vatican Council, the prefect apostolic had extraordinary faculties for several cases reserved otherwise to diocesan bishops, such as absolutions from censures, dispensations from matrimonial impediments and the faculty of consecrating chalices, patens, and portable altars, with some having the power to administer Confirmation.

Prefects apostolic govern independent territories and are subject only to the pope. When a vicariate or a diocese extended over a very large territory in which the Catholic population was unequally distributed, the Holy See sometimes placed a portion of the 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 was supervised by the vicar apostolic or the diocesan bishop. With a view to better protecting the authority of the local vicar apostolic or bishop, it was proposed in the First Vatican Council to abolish prefects apostolic having jurisdiction over districts within a vicariate or diocese of the Latin Rite, but the Council was interrupted and the practice continued until Pope Leo XIII abolished them within the Oriental Churches by a decree of Propaganda Fide on 12 September 1896, and established superiors with special dependence on the papal representatives of the areas concerned.

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

At the end of 2010, the prefectures apostolic were only 39, of which the vast majority (29) were in PR China (many vacant), where development of the Catholic Church, including that of the prefectures, had long been hindered by actions of the government. The 10 other prefectures included a newly created one for Azerbaijan, 4 more in Asia, 3 in Africa, 1 in the Americas and 1 in Oceania.^[1]

2. Current Apostolic Prefectures

2.1. In China

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

2.2. Elsewhere in (Eur)Asia

• Battambang in Cambodia
• Kompong Cham in Cambodia
• Ulaanbaatar in (Outer) Mongolia
• Yuzhno Sakhalinsk in (Asian) Russia/ Japan
• Baku, in and covering Azerbaijan (raised to the level of prefecture on 4 August 2011; had been Mission sui iuris of Baku from 11 October 2006)

2.3. Americas

• Falkland or Malvinas Islands (U.K.), including South Georgia

2.4. Oceania

• Marshall Islands, not exempt but in the ecclesiastical province of Agana.

2.5. Africa

• Misurata, in Libya
• Robe, in Ethiopia
• Western Sahara

3. Former Apostolic Prefectures

Most former apostolic prefectures were promoted to apostolic vicariate or territorial prelature (under a titular bishop) and/or (mostly later) to diocese or even archdiocese (under a residential bishop), but some ceased to exist (at least under their name or extent), being suppressed or sometimes dismembered.

3.1. Europe

• Iceland (promoted Diocese of Reykjavík)
• Rhodes and adjacent islands (insular Greece)
• Apostolic Prefecture of Scotland (UK)
• Lausitz (Lusatia)
• Schleswig-Holstein

3.2. Asia

China

Indian subcontinent

• French Colonies in India (then French India)
• Jubbulpore
• Madura (Diocese of Tiruchirapalli)

Malay countries, notably Indonesia (former Dutch East Indies)

• Bangka and Biliton (now Diocese of Pangkal-Pinang)
• Palawan

3.3. Americas

North and central America

• Îles de la Terre Ferme (now Fort-de-France–Saint-Pierre|)
• United States

South America

• Alto Solimões (promoted diocese)
• Apostolic Prefecture of Araucanía
• Tefé (now Territorial Prelature)
• Tumaco

3.4. Oceania

• German Solomon Islands
• Northern Solomon Islands
• South Seas Islands

3.5. Africa and Indian Ocean

North Africa

• Bahr el-Ghazal
• Delta of the Nile (Egypt)
• Equatorial Nile
• Sahara and Sudan

Horn of Africa

• Eritrea

Indian Ocean islands

• Bourbon (then meaning Réunion island)

West Africa

• Bobo-Dioulasso (promoted Archdiocese, in Burkina Faso)
• Katanga (then Belgian Congo)
• Apostolic Prefecture of Kayes (now Diocese in Mali)
• Mupoi (Diocese of Tombura-Yambio)
• N’Zérékoré
• Oubangui Chari (French colonial name of Central African republic; now Metropolitan of Bangui)