APOSTOLIC ADMINISTRATOR. – This name is given to the ecclesiastical prelate entrusted by the Holy See with extraordinary governance of a diocese or part of II.
An apostolic administrator may be appointed temporarily or permanently, whether the see is vacant or occupied. Appointments during a vacant see are frequent, especially when the particular circumstances of the diocese and the cathedral chapter make it inadvisable to entrust the election to a capitular vicar; usually one of the neighboring bishops is designated. Appointments to an occupied see are rare. This may occur in the case of a bishop’s illness, without intending to demand his resignation, or in certain disciplinary situations; for the duration of the administration, the ordinary jurisdiction of the bishop and his vicar general is suspended (can. 316, § 1). The powers of the apostolic administrator are derived from the letters of appointment; but generally, when the appointment is temporary, he has the same rights and duties as a capitular vicar. In an occupied see he may visit the diocese (can. 319); if he is not a bishop, he enjoys the honorary insignia of a protonotary apostolic; he does not vacate office upon the death of the Pope who appointed him, but only when the new bishop has taken canonical possession of the see.
Permanent administrations are established by the Holy See in view of special political conditions, especially where there are particular boundary disputes or unstable territorial possession by various nations. In such cases the apostolic administrator has the same rights, honors, and obligations as a residential bishop (can. 315, § 1) and is usually invested with episcopal character.