Parliamentary democracy and member of the British Commonwealth in the South Pacific. Consisters of a series of islands, the major of which are San Cristoval, Guadalcanal, Ysabel, Malaita, Florida, New Georgia, the Russell Group, Santa Cruz Group, Choiseul, and the Shortland Group. Original missionary work was entrusted to the Marist Fathers. About a fifth of the population is Catholic. Ecclesiastically the nation is governed by the archdiocese of
and the dioceses of
See also