CENTRAL NEW GUINEA, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. — It is situated in the region of New Guinea that is under Australian mandate.
The territory, detached from the Apostolic Prefecture of the Territory of Wilhelm on 23 July 1913, was erected into a separate Apostolic Prefecture under the name of Western Territory of Wilhelm and entrusted to the Picpus missionaries, who however were never able to take possession of II. Changed on 14 November 1922 to the Apostolic Prefecture of Central New Guinea and entrusted in 1923 to the Society of the Divine Word, it was elevated to an Apostolic Vicariate on 22 August 1931.
The population numbers about 130,000 inhabitants, of Melanesian race, still little civilized; Catholics number 22,551, catechumens 5,200; foreign priests 24, to whom are to be added about ten Franciscans, 7 brothers, 6 sisters, 162 catechists. Primary stations 19, secondary 219, churches 15, chapels 111; elementary schools 55, dispensaries 4.