Diocese of Punta Arenas, Chile

Diocese of Punta Arenas Dioecesis Punta Arenas Diócesis de Punta Arenas
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
Location
Country	Chile
Ecclesiastical province	Puerto Montt
Metropolitan	Puerto Montt
Statistics
Area	112,310 km2 (43,360 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 150,826 120,208 (79.9%)
Information
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	16 November 1883 (134 years ago)
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Punta Arenas
Patron saint	Mary Help of Christians
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Bernardo Miguel Bastres Florence
Metropolitan Archbishop	Cristián Caro Cordero
Emeritus Bishops	Tomás Osvaldo González Morales
Website
www.iglesiademagallanes.cl

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Punta Arenas (in Latin: Dioecesis Punta Arenas ) is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Puerto Montt, in Chile. Its current bishop is Mgr. Bernardo Bastres Florence, S.D.B. and the retired (emeritus) bishop is Mgr. Tomás Osvaldo González Morales.

In 1883 the Holy See established the Apostolic Prefecture of Patagonia Meridional, Tierra del Fuego e Islas Malvinas, which was entrusted to the Salesian congregation. In 1916, the prefecture was upgraded and its name changed to Apostolic Vicariate of Magallanes e Islas Malvinas, and on 17 January 1947, Pope Pius XII erected the diocese proper by means of the Bulla "Ut in amplissimo Patagoniae Chilensis territorio". In 1952, the Apostolic Prefecture of the Falkland Islands was separated from the diocese.

All the bishops of the diocese of Punta Arenas have belonged to the Salesian congregation.

The diocese, which comprises the entire Chilean region of Magallanes (Magallanes y Antártida Chilena), covers a territory of 112,302 km². It is estimated than 79% of the inhabitants of the diocese are Catholic. This figure represents about 120,000 Catholics out of a total population of 151,000.

Punta Arenas is the southernmost diocese in the whole Roman Catholic Church and its parish Nuestra Señora del Carmen, in Puerto Williams (Navarino island), is the southernmost Catholic parish in the world.