TRIPOLI, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of—It comprises most of Tripolitania and is entrusted to the Order of Friars Minor. Christianity flourished greatly in those regions during the first 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 Libya (v.) to ransom the slaves of the then Regency of T. Only in the 19th century, however, was it possible to begin genuine missionary work there; after the Italian occupation (1912), this made considerable progress, although the missionaries’ assistance remained directed predominantly to the Italians residing there. On 23 February 1913, the apostolic vicariate of Libya was erected; on 3 February 1927, it was divided into the two vicariates of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, which were subsequently, on 22 June 1939, subdivided into the apostolic vicariate of T. and the apostolic prefecture of Misurata, the apostolic vicariate of Benghazi (v.), Derna (v.). With the proclamation of the independent State of Libya (24 December 1951), among the directives laid down by H. M. Idris I es-Senūsi, particular mention was made of freedom of religion and worship and of respect for minorities and their local legal statutes. Moreover, T. (which is the winter capital of the new Kingdom) is in a better position, especially as regards the future of missionary activity, than Benghazi (which is the summer capital), where the principal centre and headquarters of the well-known Islamic sect, the Senussia, have by now been re-established; the King of Libya himself, who retains the title of “emir of Cyrenaica,” is its leader.
Throughout Libya, however, the new government is carrying out, to the benefit of the missions, the registration of the various religious buildings already in use under the Italian occupation, in accordance with a decision of the UN suitably adopted in favour of minorities. The vicariate of T. has an area of 191,200 sq km and a population of nearly 500,000 inhabitants, of whom only 30 are indigenous Catholics and another 30 Catholics of mixed descent. There are 36,300 foreign Catholics, approximately 400 Eastern dissidents, approximately 1,500 Protestants, 7,751 Jews, and the remainder (that is, approximately 440,000) Muslims. There are 28 priests belonging to the Friars Minor and 2 secular priests, with 9 Franciscan lay brothers, all Italians; 120 nuns, the great majority Italian, with some Maltese; 18 quasi-parishes with 14 secondary mission stations, 10 churches, and 22 chapels; and a periodical distributed in 1,600 copies. V. illustrations at V. LIBYA; TRIPOLITANIA.