TRIPOLI, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. — It comprises most of Tripolitania and is entrusted to the Order of Friars Minor. Christianity flourished greatly in those regions in the early centuries of the Church, but with the Arab invasion it almost completely disappeared.
From the earliest days of the foundation of the Franciscan Order, missionaries belonging to it traveled to Libya (q.v.) to redeem the slaves of the then Regency of Tripoli. Only, however, in the 19th century was it possible to begin genuine missionary work there, which, after the Italian occupation (1912), made notable progress, though the assistance of the missionaries was largely limited to Italians residing there. On 23 Feb. 1913 the apostolic vicariate of Libya was erected; on 3 Feb. 1927 it was divided into the two vicariates of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, which on 22 June 1939 were further subdivided into the apostolic vicariate of Tripoli and the apostolic prefecture of Misurata, the apostolic vicariate of Benghazi (q.v.) and the apostolic vicariate of Derna (q.v.). With the proclamation of the independent State of Libya (24 Dec. 1951), among the directives laid down by H.M. Idris I al-Sanusi special mention was made of freedom of religion and worship and respect for minorities and their local legal statutes. Moreover, Tripoli (which is the winter capital of the new Kingdom) is in better conditions, especially with regard to the future of missionary activity, compared to Benghazi (which is the summer capital), where the principal center and seat of the well-known seventh Islamic order, the Sanusiya, has now been reestablished, of which the King of Libya himself, who retains the title of “Emir of Cyrenaica,” is the head.
Nevertheless, throughout Libya the new government is registering, in favor of the missions, the various places of worship already in use under the Italian occupation, in accordance with a decision of the UN duly intervening in favor of minorities. The vicariate of Tripoli covers an area of 191,200 sq. km. with a population of almost 500,000 inhabitants, of whom barely 30 are indigenous Catholics and another 30 are Catholics of mixed race. Foreign Catholics number 36,300, Eastern dissidents about 400, Protestants about 1,500, Jews 7,751, the remainder (i.e., about 440,000) Muslims. There are 28 priests belonging to the Friars Minor and 2 secular priests with 9 lay Franciscan brothers, all Italians; 120 sisters, the vast majority Italians, with some Maltese; 18 quasi-parishes with 14 secondary missionary stations, 10 churches and 22 chapels; a periodical circulated in 1,600 copies. See illustrations under LIBYA; TRIPOLITANIA.