The

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Diocese of Irapuato ( la, Dioecesis Irapuatensis) is a Latin suffragan diocese in the

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 ...

of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of León in southern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. 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 ...

Episcopal see is Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, at

Irapuato, Guanajuato Irapuato is a Mexican city (and municipality) located at the foot of the Arandas Hill (in Spanish: ''Cerro de Arandas''), in the central region of the state of Guanajuato. It lies between the Silao River and the Guanajuato River, a tributary of th ...

History

Established on 3 January 2004 as Diocese of Irapuato / Irapuaten(sis) (Latin adjective), on territories split off from the Diocese of León and the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Morelia. It was a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of San Luis Potosí until 25 November 2006. Luis Esteban Zavala Rodríguez, a diocesan priest, was condemned to 65 years and three months in prison and fined MXN $61,000 in January 2021 for raping a 12-year-old girl as she took catechism classes at a church in Irapuato. The diocese released a statement saying it was respectful of the civil authorities and committed to truth and transparency, "as well as to respect and protection of any person, without discrimination, particularly with children, adolescents, and young people, and with vulnerable people ”.

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 1,427,998 Catholics (98.4% of 1,451,090 total) on 4,775 km² in 68 parishes and 38 missions with 168 priests (123 diocesan, 45 religious), 2 deacons, 278 lay religious (50 brothers, 228 sisters) and 75 seminarians.

Bishops

(all Roman Rite)

Episcopal ordinaries

;''Suffragan Bishops of Irapuato'' * José de Jesús Martínez Zepeda (2004.01.03 – retired 2017.03.11), 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 ...

of Naratcata (1997.03.11 – 2004.01.03) as Auxiliary Bishop of

México Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatem ...

(City, capital of

) (1997.03.11 – 2004.01.03) * Enrique Díaz Díaz (2017.03.11 – ...), previously Titular Bishop of Izirzada (2003.04.30 – 2014.05.15) as Auxiliary Bishop of

San Cristóbal de las Casas San Cristóbal de las Casas (), also known by its native Tzotzil name, Jovel (), is a town and municipality located in the Central Highlands region of the Mexican state of Chiapas. It was the capital of the state until 1892, and is still cons ...

(Mexico) (2003.04.30 – 2014.05.15), next Coadjutor Bishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas (2014.05.15 – 2017.03.11).

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

* José Guadalupe Torres Campos, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua in 2005 * Francisco González Ramos, appointed Bishop of Izcalli, México in 2014

References

Sources and external links

GCatholic, with Google photo - data for all sections
* Roman Catholic dioceses in Mexico Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of León Religious organizations established in 2004 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 21st century {{Mexico-RC-diocese-stub