[2] Jesuit priest Anthony Corcoran of the USA Central and Southern Province of the Society of Jesus is the current Apostolic Administrator, taking over after Janez Mihelčič [de; pl] on August 29, 2017.
[4] Most of the Catholics in the country are the descendants of Germans, Poles and other European ethnic groups who were deported to Central Asia by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s and 1940s.
[5] The first Catholic church in the country was built in 1969 by faithful of German descent, and was also granted legal recognition that same year.
[6] After Kyrgyzstan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the country became part of the Apostolic Administration for Central Asia based in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
[2] In 1997, Pope John Paul II established the sui-juris Catholic Mission for Kyrgyzstan under the care of the Jesuit religious order.