Roman Catholic Diocese of Bolzano-Brixen

Diocese of Bolzano-Brixen Dioecesis Bauzanensis-Brixinensis Diözese Bozen-Brixen Diocesi di Bolzano-Bressanone

Location
Country	Italy
Metropolitan	Trento
Statistics
Area	7,400 km² (2,900 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2006) 479,758 465,365 (97.0%)
Parishes	281
Information
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	6th Century
Cathedral	Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta e San Cassiano (Brixen)
Co-cathedral	Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta (Bolzano)
Secular priests	339
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Ivo Muser
Map

Website
www.bz-bx.net

The Diocese of Bolzano-Brixen (German: Diözese Bozen-Brixen, Italian: Diocesi di Bolzano-Bressanone, Latin: Dioecesis Bauzanensis-Brixinensis) is a Catholic diocese in northern Italy, with its seat in the city of Bolzano. Its territory corresponds with that of the province of South Tyrol with its predominantly German-speaking population. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Trento.

The present-day diocese was created by a papal bull of 6 August 1964, when the South Tyrolean parts of the Trento archdiocese around Bolzano and Merano were merged into the former Diocese of Brixen. In turn, the Austrian parts of the Brixen diocese around Feldkirch, Vorarlberg were at first allocated to the Diocese of Innsbruck and elevated to the Diocese of Feldkirch in 1968; the Ladin districts of Fodom (Livinallongo del Col di Lana and Colle Santa Lucia) and Anpez (Cortina d’Ampezzo) passed from Brixen to the Diocese of Belluno. At the same time the episcopal see was moved to Bolzano, where the Assumption of Mary parish church was elevated to a co-cathedral, while the chapter remained in Brixen.