Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Porto Alegre

Archdiocese of Porto Alegre

Archidioecesis Portalegrensis in Brasilia

Arquidiocese de Porto Alegre
Cathedral of Our Lady, Mother of God, Porto Alegre
Location
CountryBrazil
TerritoryPorto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul
Ecclesiastical provincePorto Alegre
Statistics
Area13,530 km2 (5,220 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		(as of 2013)
3,395,000
2,527,000 (74.4%)
Parishes156
Information
DenominationRoman Catholic
RiteLatin Rite
Established7 May 1848 (176 years ago)
CathedralMetropolitan Cathedral of Porto Alegre
Patron saintSaint Peter
Secular priests362
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
ArchbishopJaime Spengler
Auxiliary Bishops
  • Leomar Antônio Brustolin
  • Aparecido Donizete de Souza
  • Adilson Pedro Busin
  • Darley José Kummer
Bishops emeritusDadeus Grings
Map
Jurisdiction of the archdiocese. Suffragan dioceses in pink.
Jurisdiction of the archdiocese. Suffragan dioceses in pink.
Website
arquidiocesepoa.org.br

The Archdiocese of Porto Alegre (Latin: Archidioecesis Portalegrensis in Brasilia) is a Latin-Rite Metropolitan Archbishopric of the Roman Catholic Church in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil.

The Archdiocese's mother church and Metropolitan seat of its Archbishop is the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady Mother of God in Porto Alegre. Archbishop Emeritus Dadeus Grings was succeeded by the current incumbent, Archbishop Jaime Spengler, who was appointed on 18 September 2013 by Pope Francis, and installed on 15 November 2013.[1]

History

It was erected as the Diocese of São Pedro do Rio Grande by Pope Pius IX on 7 May 1848, on territory split off from the Diocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro.

On 15 August 1910, it was elevated by Pope Pius X to the rank of a Metropolitan archdiocese, having lost territories to establish the Diocese of Pelotas, the Diocese of Santa Maria, and the Diocese of Uruguaiana. On 8 September 1934, it lost territories to establish the Diocese of Caxias and the Territorial Prelature of Vacaria. On 18 January 1957, it gained territory back from the Territorial Prelature of Vacaria.

It lost territories on 20 June 1959 to establish the Diocese of Santa Cruz do Sul, on 15 August 1959 to the Diocese of Caxias, on 1 February 1971 to the Diocese of Caxias do Sul, on 2 February 1980 to establish the Diocese of Novo Hamburgo as its suffragan, on 10 November 1999 to establish the Diocese of Osorio as its suffragan, and on 2 July 2008 to establish the Diocese of Montenegro as its suffragan

It was visited by a papal visit from Pope John Paul II in July 1980.

Statistics

In 2014, it pastorally served around 2,547,000 Catholics (74.4% of 3,423,000 total) on 13,530 km2 in 156 parishes and 739 missions with 359 priests (203 diocesan, 156 religious), 59 deacons, 1,450 lay religious (341 brothers, 1,109 sisters), and 44 seminarians.[citation needed]

Ecclesiastical province

Besides administering his own Archbishopric, the Metropolitan supervises the following Suffragan Sees:

Bishops

Suffragan Bishops of São Pedro do Rio Grande

Coadjutor bishops

See also

References

  1. ^ "Archbishop Jaime Spengler, O.F.M." catholic-hierarchy.org. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2024.

General references