Leopoldville [Kinshasa], Apostolic Vicariate of

LEOPOLDVILLE [KINSHASA], APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - In the western part of the Belgian Congo, it is entrusted to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (missionaries of Scheut).

On Jan. 22, 1886, giving a new organization to the missions of equatorial Africa, Propaganda decreed the erection of the mission of the Belgian Congo, or independent mission, formed from the territory of that name as it had been recognized by the Treaty of Berlin (Nov. 15, 1884), excluding only the part of the territory assigned (brief of Jan. 11, 1887) to the new vicariate of the upper Congo (now Baudoinville [v.]).

This mission of the Belgian Congo was elevated to an apostolic vicariate on May 11, 1888, and subsequently underwent numerous divisions for the creation of new vicariates and apostolic prefectures. With the latest modification of May 26, 1950, the apostolic vicariate of L. has an area of about 170,000 sq. km., and, according to the statistics of 1949, about 475,000 inhabitants, 115,130 Catholics (of whom 106,291 natives, 8,150 foreigners and 689 of mixed race), 11,762 catechumens, 60 dissidents of the Eastern rite, 40 Jews, 1,371 Muslims, 62,553 Protestants, the rest (about 284,000) pagans. It is served by 110 regular priests and 4

(phot. Fides)

LEOPOLDVILLE, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of - Christian village. Native hut with cruciform ornaments.

natives, distributed in 23 districts, 30 mission stations, with 31 churches and 510 chapels. It has 3 male religious congregations and 10 female, 261 schools, 11 hospitals, a home for the aged, 1 lazaretto, 1 leper colony and 9 maternity wards. It publishes 6 periodical newspapers with a total of 8,500 copies; and there are numerous confraternities and charitable associations of Catholic Action.