The Apostolic Vicariate (or Vicariate Apostolic) of Esmeraldas ( la, Apostolicus Vicariatus Esmeraldensis) is a missionary pre-diocesan circonscription of the
Roman Catholic Church. Its cathedral see Catedral Cristo Rey is located in the town of
Esmeraldas in
Ecuador's homonymous Pacific coastal
province. It is exempt, i.e. directly subject to the Holy See, not part of any ecclesiastical province.
History
On 14 December 1945
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
established the
Apostolic Prefecture of Esmeraldas on territory split from the
Diocese of Portoviejo.
It was elevated to an
Apostolic Vicariate by the same pope on 14 November 1957.
Ordinaries
:All have been missionary members of a Latin Catholic order
;Apostolic Prefect
* Jeroteo della SSma Vergine del Carmelo,
O.C.D.
The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carme ...
(25 October 1946 – 28 July 1954)
;Apostolic Vicars
* Angelo Barbisotti,
F.S.C.J.,
Titular Bishop of
Caunas (14 November 1957 – 17 September 1972)
* Enrico Bartolucci Panaroni,
M.C.C.I., Titular Bishop of
Castulo (14 June 1973 – 10 February 1995)
* Eugenio Arellano Fernández, M.C.C.I., Titular Bishop of
Cellæ in Proconsulari (1 June 1995 – 5 July 2021)
* Antonio Crameri, S.S.C., Titular Bishop of Apollonia (5 July 2021 – present)
See also
*
Roman Catholicism in Ecuador
Notes and references
Sources and external links
GigaCatholic, with incumbent biography links
Apostolic vicariates
Roman Catholic dioceses in Ecuador
Christian organizations established in 1945
{{Ecuador-RC-diocese-stub