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Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia

*Archidioecesis Samoa-Apiana*

Puleaga Fa'aAkiepikopo Samoa-Apia
Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia; Archidioecesis Samoa-Apiana; Puleaga Fa'aAkiepikopo Samoa-Apia
	Immaculate Conception Cathedral
Location
Country	Samoa
Ecclesiastical province	Samoa-Apia
Statistics
Area	2,922 km2 (1,128 sq mi)
Population; - Total; - Catholics	(as of 2010); 189,000; 42,500 (22.5%)
Parishes	38
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	20 August 1850 (174 years ago)
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	Most Rev. Mosese Vitolio Tui
Map
	; Territory of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia (Latin: Archidioecesis Samoa-Apiana; Samoan: Puleaga Fa'aAkiepikopo Samoa-Apia) consists of the Independent State of Samoa.

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.^[1]

On 24 April 2023, Archbishop Alapati Lui Mataeliga was airlifted to Auckland Hospital, in New Zealand and died in the early hours of the following morning.^[2]

Ordinaries

Guillaume Marie Douarre S.M. (1850-1853)
Pierre Bataillon, S.M.(1853–1870)
Aloys Elloy, S.M. (1870–1878)
Jean-Armand Lamaze, S.M. (1879–1896)
Pierre-Jean Broyer [fr] S. M. (1896–1918)^[3]
Joseph Darnand S. M. (1919–1953)
Jean Baptiste Dieter [de] S. M. (1953–1955)
George Hamilton Pearce S. M. (1956–1967), appointed Archbishop of Suva, Fiji, Pacific (Oceania)
Pio Taofinu'u S. M. (1968–2002), elevated to Cardinal in 1973
Alapati Lui Mataeliga (2002–2023)
Mosese Vitolio Tui (2024-present)

Ecclesiastical province

See: Ecclesiastical Province of Samoa-Apia.

As the metropolitan see, the archdiocese has two suffragans: the Diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago and the Mission Sui Iuris of Tokelau. Until March 2003, the Mission Sui Iuris of Funafuti was also a suffragan, but since that date it is now a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Suva.

References

^ "Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia". Catholic-Hierarchy. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
^ Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi (25 April 2023). "Archbishop Mataeliga passes away". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
^ Biography about Mgr Pierre-Jean Broyer in the article dedicated to his birthplace on the French Wikipedia. fr:Illiat