The Roman Catholic Diocese of Valparaíso ( la, Vallis Paradisi) is a

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

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 ...

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

in central

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. 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 An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

, the Catedral de Santiago, dedicated to the Apostle St. James the Elder (Spanish: Santiago) in the city of

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

Valparaíso Province Valparaíso Province ( es, Provincia de Valparaíso) is one of eight provinces of the central Chilean region of Valparaíso (V). Its capital is the coastal city of Valparaíso (pop. 275,982). Administration As a province, Valparaíso is a second- ...

, is a Minor

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 966,000 Catholics (74.1% of 1,304,000 total) on 4,763 km² in 69 parishes and 260 missions with 171 priests (86 diocesan, 85 religious), 71 deacons, 406 lay religious (133 brothers, 273 sisters) and 16 seminarians.

History

* Established on November 2, 1872 as

Mission “sui iuris” A mission '' sui iuris'', or in Latin ''missio sui iuris'' (plural ''missions sui iuris''); also spelled mission(s) sui juris), also known as an independent mission, is a rare type of Roman Catholic missionary pseudo-diocesan jurisdiction, ranki ...

of Valparaíso on territory split off from the

Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile ( la, Archidioecesis Sancti Iacobi in Chile) is one of the five Latin Metropolitan sees of the Roman Catholic Church in Chile. Ecclesiastical province Its Suffragan sees are: * Roman Catholic D ...

* Promoted on October 18, 1925 to Diocese of Valparaíso * Lost territory in 1981 to the Diocese of San Felipe * Gained territory in 2001 from the then Apostolic Vicariate of Araucanía (now Diocese of Villarrica).

Bishops

Bishops of Valparaíso

* Eduardo Gimpert Paut (1925–1937) * Rafael Lira Infante, (1938–1958) *

Raúl Silva Henríquez Raúl Silva Henríquez SDB (27 September 1907 – 9 April 1999) was a Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church, a cardinal from 1962. He served as Archbishop of Santiago de Chile from 1961 to 1983 and as Bishop of Valparaíso from 1959 to 1961. ...

O.S.B. , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

(1959–1961), appointed

Archbishop of Santiago de Chile The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile ( la, Archidioecesis Sancti Iacobi in Chile) is one of the five Latin Metropolitan sees of the Roman Catholic Church in Chile. Ecclesiastical province Its Suffragan sees are: * Roman Catholic D ...

(

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

in 1962) * Emilio Tagle Covarrubias (1961–1983), Archbishop (personal title) *

Francisco de Borja Valenzuela Ríos Francisco de Borja Valenzuela Ríos (10 October 1917 – 20 February 1998) was a Chilean bishop. After his episcopal consecration, he headed the dioceses of Copiapó -at the time, a territorial prelature- (1956–57), Antofagasta (1957–74), Cala ...

(1983–1993), Archbishop (personal title) * Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez (1993–1996), appointed Pro-Prefect, and later Prefect, of the

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments it, Dicastero per il Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti , type = Dicastery , seal = Coat of arms Holy See.svg , seal_size = 100px , seal_caption = Coat of arms of the Holy See , logo = , p ...

(elevated to

in 1998) *

Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa (; born 5 September 1933) is a Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Santiago from 1998 to 2010. He has been a cardinal since 2001 and was a member of Pope Francis' Council of Cardin ...

, I.Sch. (1996–1998), Archbishop (personal title); appointed

(

in 2001) * Gonzalo Duarte García de Cortázar, SS.CC. (1998–2018) * Jorge Patricio Vega Velasco, S.V.D. (2021–present)

Auxiliary bishops

Francisco Javier Prado Aránguiz Francisco Javier Prado Aránguiz (8 March 1929 – 23 June 2020) was a Chilean Roman Catholic bishop. Prado Aránguiz was born in Chile and was ordained to the priesthood in 1953. He served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Iquique, ...

, SS.CC. (1988–1993), appointed Bishop of Rancagua * Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid (1995–2000), appointed Bishop of Iquique * Santiago Jaime Silva Retamales (2002–2015), appointed Bishop of Chile, Militar

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

* Mariano Jaime Casanova Casanova (Vicar General here, 1872–1885), appointed Archbishop of Santiago de Chile in 1886 * Salvador Donos Rodríguez (Vicar General here, 1885–1892), never consecrated bishop * Manuel Tomás Mesa (Vicar General here, 1892, did not take effect?) * Ramón Ángel Jara Ruz (Vicar General here, 1894–1898), appointed Bishop of San Carlos de Ancud * José Manuel Santos Ascarza, appointed Bishop of Valdivia in 1955 * Francisco Javier Gillmore Stock, appointed Vicar Apostolic of Chile, Military in 1959; consecrated bishop in 1962 * Sergio Otoniel Contreras Navia, appointed Bishop of San Carlos de Ancud in 1966 * Carlos Marcio Camus Larenas, appointed Bishop of Copiapó in 1968 *

Gonzalo Arturo Bravo Álvarez Gonzalo may refer to: * Gonzalo (name) * Gonzalo, Dominican Republic, a small town * Isla Gonzalo, a subantarctic island operated by the Chilean Navy * Hurricane Gonzalo, 2014 See also

* Gonzalez (disambiguation) * Gonzales (disambiguatio ...

, appointed Bishop of San Felipe in 2020

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org, with Google map and satellite photo - data for all sections

Diocese website
Roman Catholic dioceses in Chile

Religious organizations established in 1872 Religion is usually defined as a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, tra ...

Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 19th century Valparaiso, Roman Catholic Diocese of 1872 establishments in Chile {{Chile-RC-diocese-stub