Archdiocese of Bourges Archidioecesis Bituricensis Archidiocèse de Bourges |
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Location | |
Country | France |
Ecclesiastical province | Tours |
Metropolitan | Archdiocese of Tours |
Statistics | |
Area | 14,210 km2 (5,490 sq mi) |
Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2012) 549,900 502,700 (91.4%) |
Parishes | 64 |
Information | |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
Rite | Roman Rite |
Established | 3rd Century |
Cathedral | Cathedral of St. Stephen in Bourges |
Patron saint | St. Ursinus of Bourges |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Archbishop | Armand Maillard |
Metropolitan Archbishop | Bernard-Nicolas Jean-Marie Aubertin |
Emeritus Bishops | Hubert Barbier Archbishop Emeritus (2000-2007) Pierre Marie Léon Augustin Plateau Archbishop Emeritus (1984-2000) |
Website | |
Website of the Archdiocese |
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bourges is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The Archdiocese comprises the departements of Cher and Indre in the Region of Val de Loire.
Since 2002 it has lost its metropolitical function (and thus the archbishop no longer wears the pallium), its province having ceased to exist(the province had already been substantially modified from the late Roman province of Aquitania Prima with which it had initially corresponded - Albi had been erected as an archbishopric in the medieval context of heresiological conflict; Orleans, Chartres and Blois historically dependent on Sens had been attached to Paris, from which they passed to Bourges in the 1960s). The Archdiocese (also the three above- mentioned sees) is now suffragan to the Archdiocese of Tours; other dioceses until recently dependent on Bourges are now suffragans of the Clermont-Ferrand Archdiocese. Historical ecclesiastical geography has here thus been modified to correspond with France's new regions, much as diocesan and provincial boundaries from Napoleon's Concordat onwards were shaped mainly in accordance with those of the Revolution's Départements.
From 2000 it was led by Archbishop Hubert Barbier, but his resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on September 11, 2007, making him Archbishop Emeritus. His successor as Archbishop-elect is Bishop Armand Maillard of the Diocese of Laval.
The diocese was founded in the 3rd century. Its first bishop was St. Ursinus of Bourges. In the Middle Ages there was a dispute between the bishop of Bourges and the bishop of Bordeaux about the primacy of Aquitaine. Bourges was the place of many synods. The synods 1225 and 1226 are the most important and dealt with the Albigenses.