The Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala is a

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in Guatemala."Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala"
''GCatholic.org.'' Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016
''

Catholic-Hierarchy.org ''Catholic-Hierarchy.org'' is an online database of bishops and dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Catholic Churches. The website is not officially sanctioned by the Church. It is run as a private project by David M. Cheney in ...

.'' David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016 It is a

primatial Primate () is a title or rank bestowed on some important archbishops in certain Christian churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority (title of authority) or (usually) ceremonial precedence (t ...

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a ...

with six suffragan dioceses in its

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...

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 denominatio ...

is the '' Catedral Primada Metropolitana de Santiago'', is the episcopal see in the national capital

Ciudad de Guatemala Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...

. It also has * the former Cathedral, a

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 ...

: Catedral de San José, Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez * 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 ...

, National Shrine: Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala * other National Shrine: Iglesia de San Francisco el Grande, Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez * further Shrines: Santuario Arquidiocesano del Señor San José, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala and Santuario Expiatorio al Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala

History

* It was erected 18 December 1534, as the Diocese of Guatemala, on territory split off from the then Diocese of Santo Domingo. * On 1561.06.21 it lost territory to establish the Diocese of Vera Paz * It was elevated to Metropolitan Archdiocese of Guatemala on 16 December 1743. * It lost territory repeatedly : on 1842.09.28 to establish the then Diocese of San Salvador, on 1921.07.27 to establish the then Roman Catholic Diocese of Quetzaltenango, Los Altos (now also a metropolitan archdiocese) and the then Apostolic Vicariate of Verapaz and Petén, on 1951.03.10 to establish the dioceses of

Jalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which ...

(its suffragan),

Sololá __NOTOC__ Sololá is a city in Guatemala. It is the capital of the department of Sololá and the administrative seat of Sololá municipality. It is located close to Lake Atitlan. The name is a Hispanicized form of its pre-Columbian name, one sp ...

and the

Zacapa Zacapa () is the departmental capital municipality of Zacapa Department, one of the 22 Departments of Guatemala. It is located approximately from Guatemala City. Sports Football club Deportivo Zacapa competes in Guatemala's top division and p ...

, on 1969.05.09 to establish Territorial Prelature of Escuintla and on 1996.04.27 to establish its suffragan Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima. * It enjoyed papal visits from

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in March 1983, February 1996 and July 2002. * It was renamed on 23 April 2013 as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala

Province

Its

comprises the Metropolitan's own Archbishopric and the following suffragan bishoprics : * Roman Catholic Diocese of Escuintla * Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalapa * Roman Catholic Diocese of San Francisco de Asís de Jutiapa * Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima *

Roman Catholic Diocese of Verapaz, Cobán The Roman Catholic Diocese of Verapaz (also Vera Paz, Cobán) is a Latin suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guatemala, Archdiocese of Guatemala. Its cathedral episcopal see is the Catedral de San ...

Roman Catholic Diocese of Zacapa y Santo Cristo de Esquipulas The Roman Catholic Diocese of Zacapa (y Santo Cristo de Esquipulas) is a Latin suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Guatemala. Its cathedral episcopal see is catedral San Pedro (dedicated to saint Peter), in Z ...

Episcopal ordinaries

;Bishops of Guatemala ;Archbishops of Guatemala ;Archbishops of Santiago de Guatemala * Óscar Julio Vian Morales, S.D.B. (''see above'' April 25, 2013 – February 24, 2018) * Gonzalo de Villa y Vásquez, S.J. (July 9, 2020 – present)

Coadjutor bishops

* Fernando Ortiz de Hinojosa (1598); did not take effect * Francisco de Paul García Peláez (1843–1845) *

Mario Casariego y Acevedo Mario Casariego y Acevedo, CRS (13 February 1909 – 15 June 1983) was a Spanish-born Guatemalan Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Guatemala City from 1964 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate ...

, C.R.S. (1963–1964); future Cardinal

Auxiliary bishops

* Miguel Cilieza y Velasco (1765–1767), appointed Bishop of Chiapas (Ciudad Real de Chiapas) * Antonio Larrazábal (1839–1846), never consecrated * Juan Félix de Jesús Zepeda, O.F.M. Obs. (1859–1861), appointed Bishop of Comayagua, Honduras * Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol (1859–1865) * osé María Barrutia y Croquer (1859–1864) * Emmanuele Francesco Barrutia y Croquer (1865–1879) * Miguel Angel García y Aráuz (1944–1951), appointed Bishop of Jalapa * Rafael González Estrada (1955–1984) *

, C.R.S. (1958–1963), appointed Coadjutor here; future Cardinal * José Ramiro Pellecer Samayoa (1967–2010) * James Richard Ham, M.M. (1967–1979) * Luis Mario Martínez de Lejarza Valle, S.J. (1968–1980) * Eduardo Ernesto Fuentes Duarte (1980–1982), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Sololá *

Julio Amílcar Bethancourt Fioravanti Julio is the Spanish equivalent of the month July and may refer to: *Julio (given name) *Julio (surname) *Júlio de Castilhos, a municipality of the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * ''Julio'' (album), a 1983 compilation albu ...

(1982–1984), appointed Bishop of San Marcos * Juan José Gerardi Conedera (1984–1998) * Mario Enrique Ríos Mont, C.M. (1987–2010) * Gonzalo de Villa y Vásquez, S.J. (2004–2007), appointed Bishop of Sololá-Chimaltenango * Gustavo Rodolfo Mendoza Hernández (2004–2016) * Raúl Antonio Martinez Paredes (2007–) * José Cayetano Parra Novo, O.P. (2016–)

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

* Jorge de Viteri y Ungo, appointed Bishop of San Salvador in 1843 * José Cándido Piñol y Batres, appointed Bishop of Granada, Nicaragua in 1913 * Jorge García Caballeros, appointed Bishop of Quetzaltenango, Los Altos in 1928 * Pablo Vizcaíno Prado, appointed Bishop of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu in 1996 * Victor Hugo Palma Paúl, appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Escuintla in 2001 *

Álvaro Leonel Ramazzini Imeri Álvaro Leonel Ramazzini Imeri (born July 16, 1947) is a Guatemalan prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the Bishop of Huehuetenango since 2012. He was the Bishop of San Marcos from 1988 to 2012. Pope Francis raised him to the rank of ...

, appointed Bishop of San Marcos in 2008; elevated as Cardinal in 2019 * Carlos Enrique Trinidad Gómez, appointed Bishop of San Marcos in 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guatemala, Archdiocese of Santiago de Santiago de Guatemala 1534 establishments in the Spanish Empire Religious organizations established in the 1530s Roman Catholic dioceses established in the 16th century A