Mission sui iuris

A mission sui juris (lat: missio sui iuris mission in its own right ), formerly also called Missio independens ( independent mission), is a directly to the Pope imputed territorial organizational unit in the Roman Catholic mission fields. Church law, the mission is sui juris, the precursor to a particular Church. Usually follows this status of an apostolic prefecture. The Missio sui iuris is mentioned neither in the Code of Canon Law nor the Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium.

The mission is as full professor no bishop, but a priest commissioned by the Holy See with episcopal powers, the so-called Apostolic Superior. As the pastoral care very often lies in the missions in the hands of a religious community, the Superior is usually (not always) appointed a religious priest. The Apostolic Superior may in this function but not to be confused with the superior ( upper ) of the Order: The Order Upper passes a branch or province of his religious community, while the Apostolic Superior ( resembling a part of the church), the church leadership of the mission area, regardless of its possible functions in Order holds.

Missions sui iuris

In the Latin Church there are the following missions sui juris (2011):

In Asia:

• Mission sui juris Afghanistan
• Mission sui juris Tajikistan
• Mission sui juris Turkmenistan

In the Atlantic Ocean:

• Mission sui juris St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

In the Caribbean:

• Mission sui juris Cayman Islands ( the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Kingston)
• Mission sui juris Turks and Caicos Islands ( ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Nassau )

In Oceania:

• Mission sui juris Funafuti ( ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Apia )
• Mission sui juris Tokelau ( ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Apia )

The above missions, the unchurched province, reporting directly to the Holy See.