TAHITI, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF THE ISLANDS. — It is located in eastern Oceania and comprises all the islands of the French Establishments in Oceania, with the exception of the Marquesas Islands.
The first attempts at evangelization occurred in the 18th century through the efforts of Manuel de Amat, Viceroy of Lima. The Franciscan missionaries who landed at Vaiurua on 19 November 1772 departed again on 20 December of the same year. The second mission, inaugurated on 19 January 1775, was abandoned on 12 November of the same year. At the end of the same century, some Anglican ministers established themselves there. In 1836, Fathers Laval and Caret attempted in vain to resume the apostolate. In 1841, it was possible to begin a true mission amid the hostility of the Protestants. On 9 May 1848, the Islands of Tahiti were erected into an apostolic vicariate when the Apostolic Vicariate of Polynesia or Eastern Oceania was divided. It also included Easter Island, annexed to the Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile by a decree of 8 February 1889 (executed in 1921 by the Apostolic Nuncio), and the Cook Islands (v.) and Manihiki, detached in 1922. In 1875, the Tuamotu Islands were already largely Catholic. Work began in the Leeward Islands in 1906 and in the Tubuai and Rapa Islands in 1908.
