Catholic Church in Western Sahara

Prior to Spain's abandoning the country in 1975, there were over 20,000 Spanish Catholics, who formed roughly 32% of the total population before the Moroccan occupation.

The World Factbook estimates put the indigenous population to be entirely Muslim.

The Christian community is largely composed of around 260 expatriate Spaniards out of a resident population of over 587,000.

[2] There are no dioceses in the country, with the entire country forming a single apostolic prefecture, originally administered by the Apostolic Prefecture of Spanish Sahara and Ifni which was founded on July 5, 1954.

[3] Only three Apostolic Prefects have overseen the territory since 1954: Félix Erviti Barcelona,[4] from July 19, 1954, until his retirement on July 6, 1994, Acacio Valbuena Rodríguez from July 10, 1994, until his retirement in 2009, and the Apostolic Prefect-elect, Mario León Dorado OMI, appointed by Pope Francis on June 24, 2013, who had formerly been Chief of the Apostolic Prefecture.