BENI (EL BENI), APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. — The restorer of the ancient Franciscan and Jesuit missions in Bolivia was the Franciscan Andrea Herrero, who, assisted by Italian and Spanish confreres, founded in 1835 the apostolic colleges of Sucre and La Paz, to which were entrusted some parishes and all the residences along the B. River. In 1919 the Propaganda suppressed these colleges, whose task was taken over by the Seraphic Province of Andalusia. Meanwhile, the Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs erected the Apostolic Vicariate of B., entrusted to the Order of Friars Minor, detaching from the Archdiocese of La Paz or Charcas a vast region extending from the foothills of the Andes to Brazil, which in 1942 was itself divided with the subsequent creation of the vicariates of Pando and Reyes.
The territory’s surface area, comprising the provinces of Cercado and Itenez and half of the province of Yacuma, is approximately 180,000 sq. km.; total population: 44,805 inhabitants, mostly Indians and mestizos; the rest are Bolivians and foreigners. In addition to the 42,000 Catholics, there are about 140 Protestants, a very few Jews, and 2,500 semi-civilized pagans. The 8 quasi-parishes and a few other residences are entrusted to 9 Franciscan priests with one brother, all of them Spanish. There are five elementary schools with 325 pupils.
Evangelization is less advanced in Yacuma and Itenez due to the presence of Protestants. Other obstacles, in general, arise from the lack of communications, especially during the annual floods (only a few centers being connected to Trinidad by air), from unfavorable climatic and hygienic conditions, as well as from the almost general degradation of the indigenous people, caused by various factors, not excluding semi-slavery exploitation, particularly by adventurers from neighboring states. However, the aforementioned territorial division gives grounds for hope in a more fruitful future, as it has allowed for the gradual concentration of the too-scarce missionary personnel.