The Diocese of Tortosa is a Latin Rite

Catholic 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 ...

diocese covering the south of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

and the north of the

Valencian Country The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid ...

. It is a suffragan diocese of the

Archdiocese of Tarragona The Archdiocese of Tarragona (Latin, ''Tarraconensis'') is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory located in north-eastern Spain, in the province of Tarragona, part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The archdiocese heads the ecclesi ...

."Diocese of Tortosa"
''

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"Diocese of Tortosa"
''GCatholic.org''. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016

History

The Diocese of Tortosa gives a certain foundation to an ancient

historical region Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which at some point in time had a cultural, ethnic, linguistic or political basis, regardless of latterday borders. They are used as delimitations for studying and analysing soc ...

that, despite having no political representation, shares common historical, cultural and linguistic ties. This territory is known as

Ilercavonia Ilercavonia ( ca, Ilercavònia, es, Ilercavonia) is an ancient comarca of Spain formerly populated by the ancient Iberian tribe known as Ilercavones. It is a greater comarca made up of smaller ones. The ties between the people of the region tra ...

in academic and scientific circles. The territory of the historical Diocese of Tortosa was greatly reduced during

General Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

, following the

Concordat of 1953 The Concordat of 1953 was the last classic concordat of the Catholic Church, signed on 27 August 1953 by Spain (under the rule of Francisco Franco) with the Vatican (during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII). Together with the Pact of Madrid, signed ...

between the

Francoist regime Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

and the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

. Under the pretext of adapting the dioceses to the civil provincial limits the

Consistorial Congregation In the Roman Curia, a congregation ( lat, Sacræ Cardinalium Congregationes) is a type of department of the Curia. They are second-highest-ranking departments, ranking below the two Secretariats, and above the pontifical councils, pontifical co ...

, bending to the wishes of the dictator, Stanley G. Payne, ''Franco's Spain'', London 1968 broke up the traditional region of the Diocese of Tortosa: *On the 2d September 1955, the ''Cesaraugustanae et aliarum'' decree of the Consistorial Congregation was published and the following year the parishes of

Arenys de Lledó Arenys, Catalan for "sands (of a seasonal creek)", may refer to: * Arenys de Mar, municipality in the comarca of Maresme * Arenys de Munt Arenys de Munt (, ''arenys'' being Catalan for "sands (of a seasonal creek)", and ''de munt'' for "up hill" a ...

Calaceit Calaceite () or Calaceit () is a municipality located in the Matarraña comarca, in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 1,145 inhabitants. There are many ancient building ...

Cretes Cretas () or Cretes (, also known as ''Queretes'') is a municipality located in the Matarraña/Matarranya comarca, province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 588 inhabitants. It bel ...

and

Lledó d'Algars Lledó ( or Lledó d'Algars () is a municipality located in the Matarraña/Matarranya comarca, province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgu ...

in Matarranya, doing away with the traditional Aragonese parishes of the Diocese of Tortosa. Meanwhile,

Betxí Betxí ( es, Bechí) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Plana Baixa in the province of Castellón (Valencian Community), Spain. It is famous by its international Rock Music FestivaSant Antoni Pop Festival See also * List of municipalities i ...

, an enclave of the Diocese of Teruel, was briefly added (1956–1960) to the Diocese of Tortosa and Maials was transferred to the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Lleida The Diocese of Lleida, known as the Diocese of Lerida in English, (Latin, ''Ilerdensis'') is located in north-eastern Spain, in the province of Lleida, part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The diocese forms part of the ecclesiastical p ...

. *Following the ''De mutatione finium Dioecesium Valentinae-Segorbicensis-Dertotensis'' decree, of 31 May 1960, the parishes of

Nules Nules is a town in eastern Spain, in the province of Castellón (Valencian Community). Located 18 km to the south of the province's capital, at 13 m over sea level, it has 13,750 inhabitants (2010 data), living in Nules Town, Nules Beach and ...

Vila-real Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

, Castelló de la Plana,

Lucena Lucena, officially the City of Lucena ( fil, Lungsod ng Lucena), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Calabarzon region of the Philippines. It is the capital city of the Provinces of the ...

and Albocàsser that had historically belonged to the Diocese of Tortosa were aggregated to the Diocese of Segorbe-Castellón along with the parish of Betxí.

Francoist Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

propaganda presented the changes as an occasion for rejoicing.

List of bishops

References

External links

Diocese of Tortosa website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tortosa Roman Catholic dioceses in Catalonia Roman Catholic dioceses in Spain