NEGHEBLI, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF. — In the southern part of Ethiopia, it was erected on 25 March 1937, on the occasion of the general reorganization of ecclesiastical circumscriptions in the Ethiopian Empire, with territory previously belonging in part to the Apostolic Vicariate of the Galla (which took the name of Apostolic Vicariate of Harar [q.v.]) and in part to the Apostolic Prefecture of Kaffa (now Apostolic Vicariate of Gimma [q.v.]).
The Apostolic Prefecture of N. was entrusted to the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions of Milan, which energetically undertook the apostolate in that region, where dissenters and Muslims represented a small minority compared to the overwhelming multitude of pagans. However, Italy’s defeat in the Ethiopian Empire brought an end to the evangelizing activity in N. as well, and its missionaries were subsequently repatriated. The prefecture has an area of approximately 95,000 sq. km. In 1941, the population was estimated at approximately 600,000 inhabitants, of whom 232 were Catholics, 850 catechumens, approximately 14,000 dissenters, approximately 7,000 Muslims, and approximately 580,000 pagans. There were already 14 foreign priests, 2 foreign lay brothers, 5 catechists, 3 quasi-parishes, 2 main mission stations, 1 secondary station, 1 church, 8 chapels, 4 elementary schools and 1 vocational school, 2 dispensaries, 4 orphanages, and 1 leper colony.