Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico Archidioecesis Sancti Joannis Portoricensis Arquidiócesis de San Juan de Puerto Rico |
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Location | |
Country | Puerto Rico |
Territory | Northcentral portion of the island of Puerto Rico |
Ecclesiastical province | Province of San Juan de Puerto Rico |
Statistics | |
Area | 353 sq mi (910 km2) |
Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2010) 1,281,893 898,218 (70.1%) |
Parishes | 142 |
Information | |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Rite | Roman Rite |
Established | August 8, 1511 (506 years ago) |
Cathedral | Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist |
Patron saint | St. John the Baptist and Our Lady of Divine Providence |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Archbishop | Roberto González Nieves, O.F.M. |
Auxiliary Bishops |
Hermín Negrón Santana Titular Bishop of Gegi |
Map | |
Website | |
arqsj.org |
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico (Latin: Archidioecesis Sancti Joannis Portoricensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, comprising the northeast portion of the island of Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the United States.
On November 15, 1504, Pope Julius II issued the Papal Bull Illius fulciti which erected the first ecclesiastical province in the New World consisting of the Archdiocese of Hyaguata (located at Santo Domingo), the Diocese of Magua (located at Concepción de La Vega), and the Diocese of Bayuna (located at Lares de Guahaba). As all the dioceses were located on the island of Hispaniola, the Spanish Crown requested that the Diocese of Bayuna be transferred to Puerto Rico. The Bull never went into effect due to the objection of Ferdinand II of Aragon who opposed that the Bull gave the dioceses the right to receive a portion of the earnings from the gold and precious stones discovered in the territory. On August 8, 1511, Pope Julius II issued a new Papal Bull Pontifax Romanus which extinguished the previously granted ecclesiastical province and its dioceses and reassigned their delegated bishops: Pedro Suárez de Deza, Bishop Elect of Hyaguata, was reassigned to the Diocese of Concepción de la Vega; Father Alonso Manso, Bishop Elect of Magua, was reassigned to the Diocese of Puerto Rico; and Francisco Garcia de Padilla, Bishop Elect of Bayuna, was reassigned to the Diocese of Santo Domingo.