BELIZE, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE. — The mission, begun in 1851 by the Jesuits of the apostolic vicariate of Jamaica and detached from it upon its erection as the apostolic prefecture of Honduras (16 May 1888), was raised to a vicariate on 3 January 1893 at the request of the Catholics; it subsequently changed its name to that of B. (15 December 1925).
Area of the vicariate, whose boundaries approximately coincide with those of the colony: 24,600 sq. km.; total population (approximate estimate, 1939): 57,767 inhabitants: 35,000 Catholics, of whom approximately 18,000 are Maya, speaking Mayathan and Mopán, who immigrated from Guatemala and Yucatán, preserving the faith instilled in them by the Franciscans; approximately 17,000 mestizos and 250 foreigners. There are also approximately 22,370 Protestants, 35 Jews, 30 Muslims, and 200 pagans. The works of the mission, distributed among 9 primary and 132 secondary stations, were attended to (January 1949), besides the ordinary, by 4 secular priests and 30 Jesuits, 4 Jesuit scholastics, and an equal number of Jesuit coadjutors. The sisters number approximately 100 (Sisters of Mercy; of Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A.; Pious Missions of Limburg on the Lahn; St. Agnes; Holy Family; Black sisters).
Serious obstacles arise from the dispersal of the 54 stations for the Maya, who are settled in tribes in the western and northern parts of the colony, mostly in the jungle; as well as from widespread moral depravity and the shortage of missionary personnel. Nevertheless, the fortunate growth of the schools (59 elementary schools with 6,608 pupils, and two secondary schools with more than 200 pupils in 1948) and the activity of other cultural centers have contributed to the formation of a Catholic élite, the foundation for a more rapid and secure development of the mission.