Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Asunción

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Archdiocese of Asunción

Archidioecesis Sanctissimae Assumptionis

Archidiócesis de Asunción
Asuncion Cathedral.JPG
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, Asunción
Location
Country Paraguay
TerritoryAsunción
Ecclesiastical provinceAsunción
Statistics
Area997 sq mi (2,580 km2)
Population
- Total
- Catholics (including non-members)		(as of 2015)
1,839,000
1,664,000 (90.5%)
Parishes76
Information
DenominationRoman Catholic
RiteRoman Rite
Established1 July 1547
CathedralCathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption
Secular priests81
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
Metropolitan ArchbishopEdmundo Valenzuela, SDB
Bishops emeritusPastor Cuquejo, C.SS.R. (retired 6 Nov 2014)
Map
Diócesis de Asunción Paraguay.svg
Website
www.arzobispado.org.py

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Asunción (Latin: Archidioecesis Sanctissimae Assumptionis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Paraguay.[1][2]

It was created as the Diocese of Paraguay by Pope Paul III on July 1, 1547, and was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Pius XI on May 1, 1929, with the suffragan sees of Benjamín Aceval, Caacupé, Carapeguá, Ciudad del Este, Concepción, Coronel Oviedo, Encarnación, San Juan Bautista de las Misiones, San Lorenzo, San Pedro, and Villarrica del Espíritu Santo.

The archdiocese's mother church and thus seat of its archbishop is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. As the only metropolitan in Paraguay, it is the principal episcopal see of that country. As of 2012 the Archbishop of Asunción was , CSSR, having been appointed by Pope John Paul II on June 15, 2002. On Tuesday, November 8, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI, appointed Bishop Edmundo Valenzuela, S.D.B., as Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese. Until then he had served as Vicar Apostolic of the Apostolic Vicariate of Chaco Paraguayo, with the ecclesiastical rank of Bishop (Vicariates Apostolic are a type of jurisdiction that rank below a diocese). He was born in , on November 19, 1944. He was ordained to the priesthood on April 3, 1971, as a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He received a licentiate in theology from the Salesian University in Rome. At one time, he was a missionary in Angola (1991–2006). On February 13, 2006, he was named Titular Bishop of Uzal and appointed Vicar Apostolic of Chaco, Paraguay, receiving episcopal ordination on April 22, 2006. As part of the Episcopal Conference of Paraguay, he serves as Chairman of the Commission for Catholic Education. The archdiocese has 1.58 million Catholics (90.6%) in 2012.

Archbishop Valenzuela succeeded to the see on November 6, 2014.

Bishops[]

Ordinaries[]

Diocese of Paraguay

Erected: 1 July 1547
Latin Name: de Paraguay

  1. Juan de los Barrios, O.F.M. (1547–1552), appointed Bishop of Santa Marta, Colombia
  2. Pedro de la Torre, O.F.M. (1554–1573)
  3. Alfonso Guerra (bishop), O.P. (1579–1592), appointed Bishop of Michoacán, México
  4. Thomas Vásquez de Liaño (1596–1599)[3]
  5. Martín Ignacio de Loyola (1601–1608)[3]
  6. Reginaldo de Lizárraga, O.P. (1609)[3]
  7. Lorenzo Pérez de Grado (1615–1619),[3] appointed Bishop of Cuzco, Peru
  8. Tomás de la Torre Gibaja, O.P. (1620–1628),[3] appointed Bishop of Córdoba (Tucumán), Argentina
  9. Cristóbal de Aresti Martínez de Aguilar, O.S.B. (1629–1635),[3] appointed Bishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina
  10. Francisco de la Serna, O.E.S.A. (1635–1638),[3] appointed Bishop of Popayán, Colombia
  11. Bernardino de Cárdenas Ponce, O.F.M. (1640–1666),[3] appointed Bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
  12. Gabriel de Guilléstegui, O.F.M. (1666–1670),[3] appointed Bishop of La Paz, Bolivia
  13. Ferdinandus de Valcácer (1672)
  14. Faustino Casas Hernández, O. de M. (1674–1686)
  15. Sebastián de Pastrana, O. de M. (1693–1700)
  16. Pedro Díaz de Durana (1704–1718)
  17. , O.F.M. (1724–1738)
  18. , O.F.M. (1738–1747), appointed Bishop of Trujillo, Peru
  19. Bernardo José Pérez de Oblitas (1747–1756), appointed Bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
  20. (1756–1762), appointed Bishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina
  21. (1762–1770)
  22. , O.P. (1772–1779)
  23. , O.F.M. (1779–1792)
  24. (1797-1799)
  25. (1802–1806), appointed Bishop of Salta, Argentina
  26. , O.F.M. (1807–1838)
  27. (1844-1859)
  28. (1860-1865)
  29. Manuel Antonio Palacios (1865-1868)
  30. (1879–1891)
  31. Juan Sinforiano Bogarín (1894–1949)
Archdiocese of Asunción

Elevated: 1 May 1929
Latin Name: Sanctissimae Assumptionis

  1. (1949–1970)
  2. Ismael Blas Rolón Silvero, S.D.B. (1970–1989)
  3. Felipe Santiago Benítez Ávalos (1989–2002)
  4. Pastor Cuquejo, C.S.S.R. (2002–2014)
  5. Edmundo Valenzuela, S.D.B. (2014– )

Coadjutor bishops[]

  • (1720), did not take effect
  • , O.F.M. (1721-1724)
  • Manuel Antonio Palacios (1863-1865)
  • (1941-1949)
  • , S.D.B. (2011-2014)

Auxiliary bishops[]

  • (1844-1848)
  • (1856-1860), appointed Bishop here
  • (1936-1941), appointed Coadjutor here
  • (1954-1957), appointed Bishop of San Juan Bautista de las Misiones
  • (1957-1965), appointed Bishop of Concepción y Chaco
  • Felipe Santiago Benitez Avalos (1961-1965), appointed Bishop of Villarrica (later returned here as Archbishop)
  • (1965-1969)
  • (1967-1972), appointed Bishop of Paraguay, Military
  • Jorge Adolfo Carlos Livieres Banks (1976-1987), appointed Prelate of Encarnación
  • , C.SS.R. (1982-1992), appointed Bishop of Paraguay, Military (later returned here as Archbishop)
  • , P. Schönstatt (1991-1995), appointed Bishop of Caacupé
  • (1993-2003), appointed Bishop of Paraguay, Military
  • (1997-2000), appointed Bishop of San Lorenzo

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops[]

  • , appointed Bishop of Santiago de Chile in 1743
  • (priest here, 1975–2000), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Carapeguá in 2009

See also[]

  • Roman Catholicism in Paraguay

References[]

  1. ^ Cheney, David M. "Archdiocese of Asunción". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 16, 2018. [self-published]
  2. ^ Chow, Gabriel. "Metropolitan Archdiocese of Asunción (Paraguay)". GCatholic.org. Retrieved June 16, 2018. [self-published]
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Gauchat, Patritius (Patrice) (1935). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi. Vol. IV. Münster: Libraria Regensbergiana. pp. 97–98. |volume= has extra text (help) (in Latin)

External links[]

See also: List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Paraguay

Coordinates: 25°16′54″S 57°37′57″W / 25.2816°S 57.6325°W / -25.2816; -57.6325

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