Puerto Viejo, Prelature Nullius of

PORTO VECCHIO, PRELATURA NULLIUS of — City and prelatura nullius in the State of Amazonas in Brazil. It has an area of 270,000 sq km with a population of 300,000, of whom 30,000 are Catholics. It has 2 parishes served by 11 secular priests, 2 male religious communities and 4 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 642).

The prelature was created by Pope Pius XI with the apostolic constitution Inter nostri of 1 May 1925 by separating it from the dioceses of Amazonas and São Luís de Cáceres, elevating the existing church in P. V. to the dignity of a prelature. The prelature is a suffragan of Belém do Pará; its first apostolic administrator was the Salesian Msgr. P. Massa (1925–46). It comprises the region of the Madeira River beginning at Tres Casas below Humaitá, extending into the State of Mato Grosso as far as the borders of the city of Guajará-Mirim. It includes part of the territory of the State of Amazonas, part of that of Mato Grosso and part of the territory of Guaporé.

PORTO VENERE, SANCTUARY of — View from a Gothic triforium