List of Catholic dioceses in France in the 19th and 20th centuries

Contents

In 1790, Pope Pius VI entirely revised the ecclesiastical map of France to fit the new administrative map: dioceses were now to coincide with departments (the new administrative units), and consequently all Ancien Régime dioceses disappeared. Many former bishoprics remained heads of the new dioceses, but many cities lost their bishop. But the papacy did not accept those changes, and for more than a decade, the new French ecclesiastical hierarchy was technically in schism with Rome.

In 1801, following the Concordate First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte signed with Pope Pius VI, a compromise was found, but it was not before the late 1810s that a stable ecclesiastical organisation was reached, in which one diocese was more or less coterminous with one department. A few exceptions were retained, especially in departments where there was a particularly numerous population.

In December 2002, Pope John Paul II completely redrew the map of French ecclesiastical provinces: for this, see the post-2002 List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of France.

The following is a list of French ecclesiastical provinces and dioceses from 1825 to 2002. Except where stated, one diocese coincided with one department.

Province of Aix

Province of Albi

Province of Auch

Province of Avignon

Province of Besançon

Province of Bordeaux

Province of Bourges

Province of Cambrai

Province of Chambéry

Province of Lyon

Province of Paris

Before the establishment of the new dioceses in 1966, the dioceses of Blois, Chartres and Orléans were suffragans of Paris, and only then assigned to the province of Bourges as listed above.

Province of Reims

Province of Rennes

(detached from Tours in 1859)

Province of Rouen

Province of Sens

Province of Toulouse

Province of Tours

Under the direct authority of the Holy See

The Concordat of 1801 had made Metz and Strasbourg (historically, suffragans of the then-archdioceses Trier and Mainz respectively) part of the province of Besançon. They were given exempt status after the annexation of their territories by Germany in 1871, but not reattached to Besançon after they were regained by France in 1918.

Overseas ecclesiastical provinces

Antilles-Guyane

(province created in 1867)

  • Archdiocese of Fort-de-France and Saint-Pierre, created in 1850 = Martinique
  • Diocese of Basse-Terre and Pointe-à-Pitre, created in 1850 = Guadeloupe
  • Diocese of Cayenne, created in 1956 = French Guiana

Under the direct authority of the Holy See

Papeete

(province created in 1966)

  • Archdiocese of Papeete, created in 1966 = French Polynesia, minus the Marquesas Islands
  • Diocese of Taiohae o Tefenuaenata, created in 1966 = Marquesas Islands

Nouméa

(province created in 1966)

  • Archdiocese of Nouméa, created in 1966 = New Caledonia
  • Diocese of Wallis-et-Futuna, created in 1966 = Wallis-et-Futuna