The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Juan Bautista (de las Misiones) ( la, Dioecesis Sancti Ioannis Baptistae a Missionibus) is a southern

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

Latin Catholic

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

in the

Ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...

, which covers all of

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

(except the pre-diocesan missions).

History

* On January 19, 1957, the Diocese of San Juan Bautista (de Las Misiones) was established on territories split off from the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Asunción and from the Diocese of Villarrica

Special churches

Its

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

episcopal see is Catedral San Juan Bautista, dedicated to

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, in the city of San Juan Bautista de las Misiones in

Misiones Department Misiones () is a department located in the southern region of Paraguay. Its capital is San Juan Bautista. The eighth of Paraguay's 17 departments, it was created in 1906, then known as the ''San Ignacio Department'', and was not given its p ...

It also has a

Minor Basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

: the Marian Basílica Nuestra Señora del Pilar, dedicated to

Our Lady of Pilar Our Lady of the Pillar ( es, Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the context of the traditional belief that Mary, while living in Jerusalem, supernaturally appeared to the Apostle James the Greater in AD 4 ...

, in

Pilar, Paraguay Pilar () is the capital city of the Paraguayan department of Ñeembucú, located along the Paraguay River in the southwestern part of the country. Located about from Asunción, Pilar serves as an important center of commerce and government for ...

, Ñeembucu.

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 227,000 Catholics (98.3% of 231,000 total) on 21,700 km² in 30 parishes and 139 missions with 35 priests (19 diocesan, 16 religious), 2 deacons, 63 lay religious (18 brothers, 45 sisters) and 5 seminarians.

Bishops

(all

Roman rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...

natives)

Episcopal ordinaries

;''Suffragan Bishops of San Juan Bautista de las Misiones'' * Ramón Bogarín Argaña (January 19, 1957 – death September 3, 1976), also President of Episcopal Conference of Paraguay (1970 – 1973); previously

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Bagis (1954.12.01 – 1957.01.19) as Auxiliary Bishop of

(Paraguay) (1954.12.01 – 1957.01.19) *

Carlos Milcíades Villalba Aquino Carlos Milcíades Villalba Aquino (22 August 1924 – 8 January 2016) was a Catholic bishop. Ordained to the priesthood in 1948, Villalba Aquino was named bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Juan Bautista de las Misiones, Paraguay ...

(July 25, 1978 – retired July 22, 1999), died January 8, 2016 * Mario Melanio Medina Salinas (July 22, 1999 – retired 2017.02.16); previously Bishop of Benjamín Aceval (Paraguay) (1980.06.28 – 1997.07.08) and

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co ...

of San Juan Bautista (1997.07.08 – succession 1999.07.22) * Pedro Collar Noguera (2017.02.16 – ...); previously Titular Bishop of

Thamugadi Timgad ( ar, تيمقاد, links=, lit=, translit=Tīmgād, known as Marciana Traiana Thamugadi) was a Roman city in the Aurès Mountains of Algeria. It was founded by the Roman Emperor Trajan around 100 AD. The full name of the city was ''Colo ...

(2016.04.23 – 2017.02.16) as Auxiliary Bishop of

Ciudad del Este Ciudad del Este (, Spanish for Eastern City; often shortered as CDE) is the second-largest city in Paraguay and capital of the Alto Paraná Department, situated on the Paraná River. It is located 327 km from Asunción, the capital, and is ...

(Paraguay) (2016.04.23 – 2017.02.16).

Coadjutor bishop

Mario Melanio Medina Salinas is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...

(1997-1999)

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org, with Google map and - satellite photo

References

Roman Catholic dioceses in Paraguay Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Asunción Christian organizations established in 1957 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Misiones Department 1957 establishments in Paraguay {{SouthAm-RC-diocese-stub