KATANGA, VICARIATO APOSTOLICO of. — In the southeastern part of the Belgian Congo, it is entrusted to the Benedictines of the Belgian Congregation of the Abbey of St-André-les-Bruges (Lophem). On 5 August 1910, with territory detached from the apostolic vicariate of the Independent or Belgian Congo, the apostolic prefecture of K. was erected; it subsequently underwent considerable reductions in extent, since on 18 July 1922 the apostolic prefecture of Central Lulua and K. was partly detached from it (now the apostolic vicariate of Lulua and the apostolic prefecture of Lake Moero, v.) and on 12 May 1925 the apostolic prefecture of Upper Luapula was detached from it (now the vicariate of Sakania [v.]). On 22 March 1932 it was raised to an apostolic vicariate. Residence at Elisabethville.
At present it has an area of 80,000 sq. km and, according to the 1947 statistical data, a population of 219,830, of whom 71,815 are indigenous Catholics, 6,199 foreign Catholics, 73 Catholics of mixed descent, 24,176 catechumens and postulants, 717 dissidents of Eastern rite, 11,371 Protestants, 146 Muslims, and more than 105,000 pagans. Missionary priests number 68, of whom 47 are Benedictines and 21 Salesians; there are 26 lay brothers, a minor seminary with 73 students, 126 sisters, a novitiate and three novices; 548 catechists and 568 teachers of both sexes. The vicariate is divided into 10 districts, with 3 quasi-parishes, 10 principal mission stations and 418 secondary ones; 82 hospitals with approximately 1,600 beds; 13 dispensaries; two homes for 23 elderly persons; 474 elementary schools with 24,426 pupils of both sexes, 2 secondary schools with 456 pupils, 4 schools for foreigners with 1,350 pupils, 10 vocational schools with 870 pupils, 2 teacher-training schools with 72 pupils, and 418 prayer schools. There is a printing press that publishes three periodicals, and Catholic Action flourishes there.