Through an apostolic letter dated December 9, 1989, the Most Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, conceding graciously to petitions presented to him, separated 16 parishes from the Archdiocese of Caceres and created the Prelature of Libmanan, canonically erected on March 19, 1990.

The Prelature of Libmanan is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Caceres.  It has a land area of 1,862 square kilometers which comprises the entire First Congressional District of Camarines Sur, plus one town in the Second District.  The population of 415,852 people in the prelature is 94 per cent Catholic.

Monsignor Prospero N. Arellano, former professor at the Seminary of the Archdiocese of Caceres was appointed Bishop-Prelate of the Prelature of Libmanan.  Within his jurisdiction are 17 parishes served by 21 diocesan and 2 religious priests.  Because of the shortage of priests, a guest priest is invited each year to serve in the prelature, coming from either the Diocese of Virac or the Archdiocese of Caceres.

In the five vicariates of the prelature there are 16 religious sisters.  There are also 62 seminarians from the prelature who are at present studying in seminaries of other dioceses.

Pastoral programs include Renewed Integral Evangelization – the formation of small faith communities; Renewed Agents of Change – strengthening the present pool of human resources; Renewed Integral Social Ministry – the creation and maintenance of physical and technical resources to assure completion and delivery of programs.

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