PILCOMAYO, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of. — The mission of P., situated in the northwestern part of Paraguay and the southwestern part of Bolivia, was erected as a prefecture on 26 February 1925, with territory detached from the Apostolic Vicariate of Chaco in Bolivia.
At that time the prefecture was in Bolivian territory, but in 1938 it became Paraguayan because almost all of its territory was included in the immense Bolivian region awarded that same year by the Treaty of Buenos Aires to Paraguay following the last war
(from Wilpert, Sarcofagi, pl. 56)
PILEO – Soldiers wearing the pileus pannonicus capturing St Peter. Detail of the so-called dogmatic sarcophagus (4th century) – Rome, Lateran Museum.
between the two Republics. By decree of 12 May 1944, Propaganda more precisely demarcated the boundaries of the prefecture, detaching from it the small area of territory that remained Bolivian, in order to unite it with the vicariate of Chaco, while on the opposite side its boundaries were extended as far as the right bank of the rio Paraguay.
On 11 March 1948, the vicariate of Paraguayan Chaco was erected and entrusted to the Salesians; in this way the entire region of the Chaco was definitively organized. Indeed, the whole northern part (apostolic vicariate of Chaco Paraguayano) was assigned to the Salesians, while the whole southern part of P. was entrusted to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. On 14 July 1950, the apostolic prefecture of P. was elevated to a vicariate. It has an area of 110,000 sq km and a population of approximately 50,000 inhabitants, of whom 25,000 are Catholics, a few are Protestants, and the remainder pagans belonging to the Chulupi, Choroti, and Mataco Guarayo tribes. Twelve Oblate priests, 10 brothers, and 6 sisters work there. There are 6 principal stations and 6 secondary ones, 1 quasi-parish, and 11 churches and chapels. There are 4 dispensaries and 5 boarding schools. Elementary schools number 5, and vocational schools 1. The mission also has several lay religious confraternities.