Apostolic Administration

An apostolic administration or actually "for permanently established apostolic administration" is an administrative district of the Roman Catholic Church . It has the character of a particular Church . However, it is not directed by its own bishop , but by an apostolic administrator who, unlike the bishops, does not derive his position from divine law , but acts on behalf of and as a representative of the Pope. Usually the apostolic administrator is an auxiliary bishop .

Although “established to last”, apostolic administrations represent a provisional arrangement, the end of which in most cases is of course not in sight.

Apostolic administrations are established for a variety of reasons. In the case of the current Ap. The administration of southern Albania , for example, may play a role in the fact that it is biritual , which is otherwise not possible for particular churches.

In many cases, however, the reasons are political. Many states have the often concordat recognized interest that no diocese should overlap national borders. When the state borders become disputed, the church leadership sets up apostolic administrations. For example, the part of the Archdiocese of Breslau to the west of the Oder-Neisse line was an apostolic administration for a long time and only became an independent diocese of Görlitz when the Oder-Neisse border was finally recognized in the treaties of 1990. It could also have played a role here that, according to the Reich Concordat, no bishopric can be established in Germany without the consent of the state government, but the Holy See had not established diplomatic relations with the GDR.

Note, however, that the GDR region lying on parts of West German dioceses ( Bischöfliche offices ) not been declared apostolic administrations, although the local bishop's commissioners the Bishop ordination and the title of Apostolic Administrat o ren received. The Holy See made it so clear that it did not understand the division of Germany .

Apostolic administrations are also occasionally set up in predominantly Eastern Orthodox areas. The upgrading of most of the Russian administrations to dioceses under Pope John Paul II triggered serious church and state diplomatic entanglements.

In mission areas, there are generally no apostolic administrations, but instead, if the establishment of an independent diocese is not yet possible, successive missions sui juris , apostolic prefectures and apostolic vicariates .

Apostolic Administrations

The following Apostolic Administrations currently exist in the Latin Church (2011):

Albania

→ Main article : Roman Catholic Church in Albania

• Apostolic Administration for Southern Albania

Armenia & Georgia

→ Main articles : Roman Catholic Church in Armenia  and Roman Catholic Church in Georgia

• Apostolic Administration of the Caucasus

Brazil

→ Main article : Roman Catholic Church in Brazil

• Apostolic Personnel Administration St. John Maria Vianney

China

→ Main article : Roman Catholic Church in China

• Harbin Apostolic Administration

Estonia

→ Main article : Roman Catholic Church in Estonia

• Apostolic Administration of Estonia

Kazakhstan

→ Main article : Roman Catholic Church in Kazakhstan

• Apostolic Administration Atyrau

Kyrgyzstan

→ Main article : Roman Catholic Church in Kyrgyzstan

• Apostolic Administration of Kyrgyzstan

Uzbekistan

• Apostolic Administration of Uzbekistan

See also

• Particular church
• List of Roman Catholic Dioceses

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Codex juris canonici , can. 368