Archbishop of Cardiff | |
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Archbishopric | |
catholic | |
Incumbent: George Stack |
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Province | Province of Cardiff |
Diocese | Archdiocese of Cardiff |
Cathedral | St David's Cathedral, Cardiff |
Formation | 1916 |
The Archbishop of Cardiff is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff.
The archdiocese covers an area of 1,183 square miles (3,060 km2) and spans the historic counties of Monmouthshire, Herefordshire and eastern Glamorganshire. The Metropolitan See is in the city of Cardiff where the archbishop's seat is located at the Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St David.
With the exception of the second archbishop, Francis Mostyn, born in Flintshire and of local descent, the Welsh connections of the archbishops have been extremely weak. Ireland, London and the English provinces have supplied a majority.
The see is currently held by the Most Reverend George Stack, 7th Archbishop of Cardiff, who was appointed by the Holy See on 19 April 2011 and installed at St David's Cathedral, Cardiff on 20 June 2011.
The Vicariate Apostolic of the Welsh District was created out of the Western District of England and Wales in 1840. The Welsh District covered all of the principality of Wales and the English county of Herefordshire. On the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850, the Welsh District was divided. The southern half became the Diocese of Newport and Menevia and the northern half became part of the Diocese of Shrewsbury. In 1895, the diocese lost territory on the creation of the Vicariate Apostolic of Wales, which became the diocese of Menevia in 1898. As a result, the see changed its name to simply the diocese of Newport. Following further reorganisation of the Catholic Church in Wales in 1916, the diocese of Newport was elevated to an ecclesiastical province and changed its name to the archdiocese of Cardiff. The archbishop has jurisdiction over the bishops of Menevia and Wrexham.