Diocese of Samogitia

Archdiocese of Kaunas Archidioecesis Kaunensis Kauno Arkivyskupija
Kaunas Cathedral, the mother church of the Archdiocese
Location
Country	Lithuania
Statistics
Area	8,750 km2 (3,380 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2013) 665,000 533,000 (80.2%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Latin
Established	1417 (As Diocese of Žemaičiai) 4 April 1926 (As Archdiocese of Kaunas)
Cathedral	Cathedral Basilica of St Peter and St Paul
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Metropolitan Archbishop	Lionginas Virbalas
Suffragans	Diocese of Šiauliai, Diocese of Telšiai, Diocese of Vilkaviškis
Auxiliary Bishops	Kęstutis Kėvalas
Emeritus Bishops	Sigitas Tamkevičius
Map
Map of the Archdiocese
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kaunas (Latin: Archidioecesis Kaunensis) is a Latin archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Lithuania.

It is based in Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. The archdiocese's motherchurch and cathedral archiepiscopal see is Kaunas Cathedral Basilica; it also houses a Minor Basilica in a town of Šiluva, in the region of Samogitia. The current Archbishop is Lionginas Virbalas, Jesuit (S.J.), appointed by Pope Francis on June 11, 2015.

The future diocese of Kaunas was established on 24 October 1417 as the Diocese of Žemaitija or Żmudź (Polish) or Telshi or Samogitia with a see in Medininkai according to directions from the Council of Constance.

On 1798.03.25 it lost territory to establish the Diocese of Wigry. On 1848.07.03 it gained territory from the persisting then Diocese of Vilnius, now Lithuania's other Metropolitan see. On 1920.06.09 it lost territory to the existing Diocese of Riga, in 1921 it gained territory from the persisting Diocese of Sejny.

The Apostolic constitution, issued by Pius XI, intended to structure the diocesan territories in accordance with the actual boundaries of Lithuanian Republic after the Declaration of Independence in 1918. Due to fact, that the Lithuanian capital city Vilnius and the eastern parts of the country were seized by Polish troops in 1920 and annexed by Poland in 1922, Kaunas became not only the Temporary capital of Lithuania but also was promoted by Pope Pius XI on April 4, 1926 into the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kaunas, initially with as suffragan sees Vilkaviškis and Telšiai in the new Lithuanian ecclesiastical province. The then diocese of Vilnius was also elevated into a Metropolitan Archbishopric with its ecclesiastical province on temporarily Polish areas.