Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds

Diocese of Leeds Dioecesis Loidensis
Coat of arms of the Diocese of Leeds
Location
Country	England
Ecclesiastical province	Liverpool
Metropolitan	Archdiocese of Liverpool
Deaneries	11
Statistics
Area	4,075 km2 (1,573 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2013) 2,068,000 157,766 (7.6%)
Parishes	86
Schools	107
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	29 September 1850
Cathedral	Saint Anne's Cathedral, Leeds
Patron saint	Our Lady of Perpetual Succour St Wilfrid
Secular priests	187
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop
Metropolitan Archbishop	Malcolm McMahon
Vicar General	Paul Fisher
Episcopal Vicars	Timothy Swinglehurst
Emeritus Bishops	Arthur Roche
Map
The Diocese of Leeds within the Province of Liverpool
Website
dioceseofleeds.org.uk

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds is a Roman Catholic diocese of the Latin Rite centred on Leeds Cathedral in the city of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It was founded on 20 December 1878, with the splitting of the Diocese of Beverley which had covered all of Yorkshire. The Diocese of Leeds was made to cover the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, while the Diocese of Middlesbrough took over the organisation of the rest of Yorkshire.

In the 19th century, the region covered by the modern diocese fell under the jurisdiction of Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District, which in turn became the Apostolic Vicariate of the Yorkshire District, which was then elevated to the distinction of Diocese of Beverley in 1850. c.1861, the then Bishop of Beverley, Robert Cornthwaite, informed the Holy See that in his opinion, the Diocese of Beverley was too large, and in light of the expanding Catholic population, should be sub-divided into two regions. After 15 years of discussion and planning, it was agreed that on 20 December 1878, the Diocese of Beverley be dissolved and that the Diocese of Leeds be created to cater for the West Riding of Yorkshire and those parishes in the City of York to the south of the River Ouse, and the Diocese of Middlesbrough, covering the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire and those parishes in the City of York to the north of the River Ouse. However, in 1982 the two York parishes south of the River Ouse were ceded to the Diocese of Middlesbrough to unite the City of York under one bishop. In 1980, fifty parishes in the South Yorkshire region of the diocese were transferred from Leeds to the newly formed Diocese of Hallam. The parish of Howden was transferred from the Middlesbrough diocese to the Leeds diocese in 2004.