The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Port of Spain ( la, Archidioecesis Portus Hispaniae) is a

metropolitan diocese A metropolis religious jurisdiction, or a metropolitan archdiocese, is an episcopal see whose bishop is the metropolitan bishop or archbishop of an ecclesiastical province. Metropolises, historically, have been important cities in their provinces ...

of the

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 ...

of the

Roman 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 the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. The archdiocese encompasses the entirety of the former Spanish dependency of Trinidad, including the islands of

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. The archdiocese is the Metropolitan responsible for the suffragan Dioceses of

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Island ...

, Georgetown,

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

and

Willemstad Willemstad ( , ; ; en, William I of the Netherlands, William Town, italic=yes) is the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdo ...

, and is a member of the Antilles Episcopal Conference. The diocese of

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

was originally erected as a vicariate apostolic in 1818 and elevated to an archdiocese in April 1830.

Communications

The archdiocese has its own special-purpose company, Catholic Media Services Limited (CAMSEL), responsible for coordinating communications. The diocesan weekly newspaper, ''Catholic News'', has been published in Trinidad since 1892 and since 2006 has been published by CAMSEL. There is also a local TV station which operates under the aegis of the archdiocese but is independently owned and operated by the Living Water Community, a public association of Christian Faith founded in Trinidad. The vicar for communications is Fr. Robert Christo.

Pastoral regions

The archdiocese is divided into six regions known as vicariates and each headed by a regional

episcopal vicar Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

. * Central Vicariate * Eastern Vicariate * Northern Vicariate * Southern Vicariate * Suburban Vicariate * Tobago Vicariate

Bishops

Ordinaries

* James Buckley (1819–1828) * Daniel McDonnell (bishop) (1828–1844) * Richard Patrick Smith (1844–1852) *

Vincent Spaccapietra The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Izmir ( la, Archidioecesis Smyrnensis) is a Latin archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Asian Turkey (Anatolia). The archdiocese's cathedral Mother Church, motherchurch and thus see of its arc ...

(1855–1859) * Ferdinand English (1860–1862) * Joachim-Hyacinthe Gonin, O.P. (1863–1889) * Patrick Vincent Flood, O.P. (1889–1907) * John Pius Dowling, O.P. (1909–1940) *

Patrick Finbar Ryan Patrick Finbar Ryan, TC, O.P., (1881-1975) was an Irish Dominican priest who served as Archbishop of Port of Spain, Trinidad (1940–1966). Patrick Ryan was born in Rochestown, County Cork, the son of Edward Ryan, and Matilda Ryan. on 4 March ...

, O.P. (1940–1966) * Gordon Anthony Pantin,

C.S.Sp. , image = Holy Ghost Fathers seal.png , size = 175px , caption = The seal of the Congregation depicting the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Trinity. , abbreviation ...

(1967–2000) * Edward Joseph Gilbert, C.Ss.R. (2001–2011) *Joseph Everard Harris, C.S.Sp. (2011-2017) *

Charles Jason Gordon Charles Jason Gordon (born 17 March 1959) is a Trinidadian Roman Catholic prelate and the current Metropolitan Archbishop of Port of Spain since his appointment in 2017. He had served prior to this as a parish priest for the locality of Gonzal ...

(since 2017)

Coadjutor bishops

* Richard Patrick Smith (1837-1844), as Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic * William Dominic O'Carroll, O.P. (1874-1880), did not succeed to see * Thomas Raymond Hyland, O.P. (1882-1884), did not succeed to see * George Vincent King, O.P. 1885-1886), did not succeed to see * Patrick Vincent Flood, O.P. (1887-1889) *

, O.P. (1937–1940) * Joseph Everard Harris, C.S.Sp. (2011)

Auxiliary bishops

* William Michael Fitzgerald, O.P. (1958-1968) * John Mendes (1988-2002) * Robert Anthony Llanos (2013-2018), appointed Bishop of Saint John's-Basseterre, Virgin Islands (British)

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

* Sydney Anicetus Charles, appointed Bishop of Saint George's in Grenada in 1974 *

Clyde Martin Harvey Clyde Martin Harvey (born November 9, 1948 in Port of Spain) is a Trinidadian clergyman and bishop for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint George's in Grenada The Roman Catholic Diocese of St. George's in Grenada ( la, Dioecesis Sancti Georgii) ...

, appointed Bishop of Saint George's in Grenada in 2018 * Malcolm Patrick Galt, CSSp., appointed Bishop of Bridgetown in Barbados in 1995

References

The Archdiocese of Port of Spain
''official site'' * * Roman Catholic dioceses in the Caribbean Catholic Church in Trinidad and Tobago Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 19th century Religious organizations established in 1818 A {{RC-diocese-stub