Apostolic Administrator
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In the Roman Catholic Church, an apostolic administrator is a prelate appointed by the Pope to serve as an ordinary for an Apostolic Administration, which is a territorial jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, similar in function but lower in status then a diocese, but are usually to be found where the number of Catholics in a particular region or country is very low. The apostolic administrator is usually a bishop with a titular see.
The Apostolic Administration can either be an area that is not yet a diocese (a stable apostolic administration) or for a diocese that either has no bishop (an apostolic administrator sede vacante) or, in very rare cases, has an incapacitated bishop (apostolic administrator sede plena).
Apostolic administrators of stable administrations are equivalent in law with diocesan bishops, which means that they can do just about anything a diocesan bishop can do.
Administrators sede vacante or sede plena, though, only serve in their role until a newly chosen diocesan bishop takes possession of the diocese and are restricted by canon law in what they can do to the diocese they temporarily administer.
Normally when a diocese falls vacant a vicar capitular/diocesan administrator is chosen locally, but the Pope, having full governmental power, can preempt this choice and name an apostolic administrator instead. Sometimes a retiring bishop is designated to be apostolic administrator until his successor takes office.
Present cases
In April 2006, there were only nine Apostolic administrations, each administered by a Bishop unless otherwise mentioned:
- only Southern Albania (established in 1939; suffragan of Tiranë–Durrës) is of of the Albanian rite
Eight of the Roman rite, mainly in the former Soviet block:
- Atyrau in Kazakhstan (which was untill 1997 one single apostolic administration), suffragan of the Metropolitan (till 2003 itself and apostolic administrator) of Astana; administered by a Monsignor who is not a bishop
- Caucasus, exempt, established in 1991, for two (predominantly Othodox) former constitutive Soviet Republics: Georgia (the cathedral is in its capital Tbilisi) and Armenia
- Estonia, one of the former Baltic Soviet republics, established in 1924 (split off from Riga archiocese in Latvia), with a cathedral in the capital Talinn
- Kyrgyzstan, (mainly Islamic) former constitutive Soviet republic in Central Asia, exempt, since 2006 (promoting a mission sui juris created in 1997)
- Prizren, a former diocese in Serbia and Montenegro (in 1969 absorbed by Skopjei present macedonia), restored in 2005, exempt, vacant
- Uzbekistan, (mainly Islamic) former constitutive Soviet republic in Central Asia, exempt (promoting since 2005 the former mission sui juris created in 1997)
- Harbin in the PR China, exempt, established in 1935, with a cathedral, vacant since 1946
- the only non-(post) communist was the (mainly Muslim) island state of the Comoros (established in 1975; still includes Mayotte, which split off politically by remaining under French administration), exempt, under a non-monsignor
Sources and references
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