MANADO, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. — In the northern part of the island of Celebes (Indonesia), erected as the Apostolic Prefecture of Celebes on 19 November 1919, detached from the Apostolic Vicariate of Batavia (now Jakarta), elevated to the status of an Apostolic Vicariate of Celebes on 19 February 1934, it took its current name of M. on 13 April 1937, when the Apostolic Prefecture (now Apostolic Vicariate) of Makassar was detached from II.
The first to preach the Catholic faith in this region in 1563 was the Jesuit Diego Magelhaes. Other Jesuits followed between 1568 and 1608, succeeded by the Franciscans, though not without difficulties and arrests due to the expansion of Dutch rule. Ethnographically speaking, the inhabitants belong to the Malay type, mixed with Mongolian and Chinese elements.
Over an area of 90,597 sq. km., it has a population of 1,400,000, of whom 33,000 are Catholics, 700,000 Muslims, 500,000 Protestants, and 100,000 pagans. Since 1934, the Protestant Church has been constituted *sui iuris*, but in addition to this official Church, there are many other smaller sects, such as, for example, Adventists, the Salvation Army, Pentecostals, etc. The western part of the mission is almost entirely Muslim and Protestant. The official language is Malay, known as Indonesian. The vicariate has 109 churches and chapels, including 4 parishes, served by 3 native priests and 32 religious, assisted by 2 male and 5 female religious communities. It has 88 schools and 14 charitable and welfare institutions. Two newspapers are published there: *Gredja Katolik*, since 1903, and *Rankaian Pimda*, since 1945. The mission, according to local civil laws, enjoys legal personality. It is entrusted to the Society of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
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