In 1842, the Propaganda Fide created the
Apostolic Vicariate of Central Oceania that included New Caledonia, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji Islands. This lost territory with establishment by
canonical erection by the
Holy See on August 20, 1850, of the
Vicariate Apostolic of the Navigators' Archipelago, entrusted to the
Society of Mary (Marists). On January 4, 1957, the Vatican changed the name of the Vicariate Apostolic to Samoa and the Tokelau Islands. The vicariate apostolic was elevated to the Diocese of Apia on June 21, 1966, and made suffragan to the metropolitan see of
Suva, Fiji. On August 10, 1974, the name of the diocese was changed to Diocese of Apia o Samoa and Tokelau; and it was changed again on December 3, 1975, to the Diocese of Samoa and Tokelau. On September 10, 1982, the diocese was elevated to the dignity of an archdiocese taking the name of the See city,
Apia. Simultaneously, the
Diocese of Samoa–Pago Pago was created from a portion of the former Diocese of Samoa Tokelau and made suffragan to the metropolitan see of Apia. On 24 April 2023, Archbishop
Alapati Lui Mataeliga was airlifted to
Auckland Hospital, in
New Zealand and died in the early hours of the following morning. ==Ordinaries==