Archdiocese of Mexico

Archdiocese of Mexico Archidioecesis Mexicanensis Arquidiócesis de México (Spanish) Iarchdiocese Mexiko (Nahuatl)
Location
Country	Mexico
Ecclesiastical province	Mexico
Statistics
Area	799.8 km2 (308.8 sq mi)
Population Total Catholics	(as of 2019) 5,265,309 4,212,247 (80%)
Parishes	307
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	2 September 1530 (496 years ago)
Cathedral	Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Archbishop	Carlos Aguiar Retes
Auxiliary Bishops	Francisco Javier Acero Pérez Andrés Luis García Jasso Salvador González Morales Luis Manuel Pérez Raygoza Héctor Mario Pérez Villarreal Carlos Enrique Samaniego López
Bishops emeritus	Norberto Rivera Carrera Francisco Clavel Gil José Luis Fletes Santana
Map
Website
www.arquidiocesismexico.org.mx

The Archdiocese of Mexico (Latin: Archidioecesis Mexicanensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church that is situated in Mexico City, Mexico. It was erected as a diocese on 2 September 1530 and elevated to an archdiocese on 12 February 1546. The archdiocese is one of the largest in the world, with over four million Catholics, surpassed only by Kinshasa, Guadalajara, São Paulo, Puebla de los Ángeles, Santiago de Guatemala, and Milan.

Prior to 2019, the archdiocese was the largest in the world, with nearly 8 million Catholics. In September 2019, Pope Francis approved the division of the archdiocese, erecting three new suffragan dioceses from its territory: Azcapotzalco, Iztapalapa, and Xochimilco. These are the only three suffragans within the ecclesiastical province of which the archdiocese is the metropolitan see. Today, the archdiocese's territory comprises most of Mexico City, with the exception of the three new dioceses, each of which is coextensive with its eponymous borough.

The cathedra of the archdiocese is found within the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City.

Bishops

Ordinaries

No.	Name	From	Until
1	Juan de Zumárraga, O.F.M.	August 20, 1530	June 3, 1548
2	Alonso de Montúfar, O.P.	October 5, 1551	March 7, 1572
3	Pedro Moya de Contreras	June 17, 1573	December 7, 1591
4	Alfonso Fernández de Bonilla	May 22, 1592	1600
5	García de Santa María Mendoza y Zúñiga, O.S.H.	February 12, 1601	October 5, 1606
6	García Guerra, O.P.	December 3, 1607	February 22, 1612
7	Juan Pérez de la Serna	May 13, 1613	July 19, 1627
8	Francisco de Manso Zuñiga y Sola	August 9, 1627	July 20, 1634
9	Francisco Verdugo Cabrera	September 9, 1636	?
10	Feliciano de la Vega Padilla	March 22, 1639	December 1640
11	Juan de Mañozca y Zamora	November 16, 1643	December 12, 1650
12	Marcelo Lopez de Azcona	April 29, 1652	November 10, 1654
13	Mateo de Sagade de Bugueyro	September 19, 1655	June 1664
14	Juan Alonso de Cuevas y Davalos	April 28, 1664	September 2, 1665
15	Marcos Ramírez de Prado y Ovando, O.F.M.	December 15, 1666	March 14, 1667
16	Payo Enríquez de Rivera, O.S.A.	September 17, 1668	June 30, 1681
17	Francisco de Aguiar y Seijas y Ulloa	August 20, 1682	August 16, 1698
18	Juan de Ortega Cano Montañez y Patiño	1699	December 16, 1708
19	José Pérez de Lanciego Eguiluz y Mirafuentes, O.S.B.	March 21, 1714	January 25, 1728
20	Manuel José de Hendaya y Haro	1728	1729
21	Juan Antonio de Vizarrón y Eguiarreta	July 24, 1730	January 25, 1747
22	Manuel José Rubio y Salinas	January 29, 1748	July 3, 1765
23	Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana y Butrón	April 14, 1766	August 22, 1771
24	Alonso Núñez de Haro y Peralta	March 30, 1772	May 26, 1800
25	Francisco Javier de Lizana y Beaumont	May 24, 1802	January 1, 1815
26	Pedro José de Fonte y Hernández Miravete	September 4, 1815	December 28, 1837
27	Manuel Posada y Garduño	December 23, 1839	April 30, 1846
28	José Lázaro de la Garza y Ballesteros	September 30, 1850	March 11, 1862
29	Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos	March 19, 1863	February 4, 1891
30	Próspero María Alarcón y Sánchez de la Barquera	December 17, 1891	March 29, 1908
31	José Mora y del Rio	December 2, 1908	April 22, 1928
32	Pascual Díaz y Barreto, S.J.	June 25, 1929	May 19, 1936
33	Luis María Martínez y Rodríguez	February 20, 1937	February 9, 1956
34	Miguel Darío Miranda y Gómez	June 28, 1956	July 19, 1977
35	Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada	July 19, 1977	September 29, 1994
36	Norberto Rivera Carrera	June 13, 1995	December 7, 2017
37	Carlos Aguiar Retes	December 7, 2017	present

Ordinaries who became Cardinals:

• Miguel Darío Miranda y Gómez, in 1969
• Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada, in 1979
• Norberto Rivera Carrera, in 1998
• Carlos Aguiar Retes, in 2016 while Archbishop of Tlalnepantla

Coadjutor archbishop

• Miguel Darío Cardinal Miranda y Gómez (1955–1956); future Cardinal

Current auxiliary bishops

• Luis Manuel Pérez Raygoza (appointed 25 January 2020)
• Héctor Mario Pérez Villarreal (appointed 25 January 2020)
• Andrés Luis García Jasso (appointed 24 Aug 2021)
• Francisco Javier Acero Pérez, O.A.R. (appointed 18 November 2022)

Former auxiliary bishops

• Juan Manuel de Irrizarri y Peralta (27 April 1840 – 27 March 1849)
• Maximino Ruiz y Flores (8 March 1920 – 11 May 1949)
• Francisco Orozco Lomelín (19 March 1952 – 17 October 1990)
• José Villalón Mercado (1 April 1952 – 12 September 1977)
• Alfredo Torres Romero (30 December 1967 – 4 January 1975), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Aguascalientes
• Luis Mena Arroyo (13 July 1961 – 1 September 1964), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Chihuahua; returned here as Auxiliary Bishop (27 July 1979 – 9 September 1995), with personal title of Archbishop
• Jorge Martínez Martínez (5 June 1971 – 1 August 1994)
• Javier Lozano Barragán (5 June 1979 – 28 October 1984), appointed Bishop of Zacatecas; future Cardinal
• Francisco María Aguilera González (5 June 1979 – 12 January 1996)
• Carlos Talavera Ramírez (15 January 1980 – 14 March 1984), appointed Bishop of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz
• Genaro Alamilla Arteaga (26 January 1980 – 10 October 1989)
• Ricardo Watty Urquidi, M.Sp.S. (27 May 1980 – 6 November 1989), appointed Bishop of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
• Abelardo Alvarado Alcántara (26 April 1985 – 22 July 2008)
• José de Jesús Martínez Zepeda (11 March 1997 – 3 January 2004), appointed Bishop of Irapuato, Guanajuato
• Marcelino Hernández Rodríguez (5 January 1998 – 23 February 2008), appointed Bishop of Orizaba, Veracruz
• José Luis Fletes Santana (29 January 2000 – 31 May 2003)
• Guillermo Rodrigo Teodoro Ortiz Mondragón (29 January 2000 – 19 October 2005), appointed Bishop of Cuautitlán, México
• Rogelio Esquivel Medina (27 June 2001 – 27 June 2008)
• Felipe Tejeda García, M.Sp.S. (29 January 2000 – 30 July 2010)
• Jonás Guerrero Corona (27 June 2001 – 18 March 2011), appointed Bishop of Culiacán, Sinaloa
• Francisco Clavel Gil (27 June 2001 – 28 May 2013)
• Antonio Ortega Franco, C.O. (11 February 2004 – 16 February 2019)
• José Víctor Manuel Valentín Sánchez Espinosa (2 March 2004 – 5 February 2009), appointed Archbishop of Puebla de los Ángeles, Puebla
• Carlos Briseño Arch, O.A.R. (20 May 2006 – 12 November 2018), appointed Bishop of Veracruz
• Florencio Armando Colín Cruz (27 November 2008 – 16 February 2019), appointed Bishop of Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca
• Jesús Antonio Lerma Nolasco (7 May 2009 – 28 September 2019), appointed Bishop of Iztapalapa
• Crispin Ojeda Márquez (4 June 2011 – 27 July 2018), appointed Bishop of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca
• Jorge Estrada Solórzano (28 May 2013 – 11 May 2019), appointed Bishop of Gómez Palacio, Durango
• Francisco Daniel Rivera Sánchez, M.Sp.S. (25 January 2020 – died 18 January 2021)
• Carlos Enrique Samaniego López (16 February 2019 – 21 August 2025), appointed Bishop of Texcoco
• Salvador González Morales (16 February 2019 – 6 December 2025)

Other priests of the archdiocese who became bishops

• Bernardo Gárate y López de Arizmendi (15 December 1819 – 19 March 1863), appointed Bishop of Querétaro
• Manuel Fulcheri y Pietrasanta (17 December 1898 – 6 May 1912), appointed Bishop of Cuernavaca
• Gerardo Anaya y Diez de Bonilla (2 April 1904 – 8 March 1920), appointed Bishop of Chiapas (Ciudad Real de Chiapas)
• Arturo Vélez Martínez (29 June 1934 – 8 February 1951), appointed Bishop of Toluca

Territorial losses

Year	Along with territory from	To form
1536		Diocese of Michoacán
1579		Diocese of Manila
1863		Diocese of Tulancingo
1863	Archdiocese of Michoacán Diocese of Tlaxcala	Diocese of Chilapa
1870	Diocese of Tlaxcala Vicariate Apostolic of Tamaulipas	Diocese of Ciudad Victoria-Tamaulipas
1874		Vicariate Apostolic of California Inferiore
1891		Diocese of Cuernavaca
1950		Diocese of Toluca
1959	Archdiocese of Puebla de los Angeles, Puebla	Diocese of Tlaxcala
1960		Diocese of Texcoco
1961	Diocese of Tulancingo	Diocese of Tula
1964	Diocese of Texcoco	Diocese of Tlalnepantla
1984		Diocese of Atlacomulco Diocese of Tenancingo Diocese of Cuernavaca
2019		Diocese of Azcapotzalco Diocese of Iztapalapa Diocese of Xochimilco

Education

Colleges, universities, and seminaries

Seal	University	Location	Religious order	Founded
	Conciliar Seminary of Mexico	Mexico City		1585
	Panamerican University	Mexico City		1967
	Simón Bolívar University	Mexico City
	Universidad Iberoamericana	Mexico City	Society of Jesus	1943
	Universidad Intercontinental	Mexico City	Guadalupe Missionaries	1976
	Universidad La Salle	Mexico City	De La Salle Brothers	1962
	Universidad Pontificia de México	Mexico City		1982

Secondary schools

Seal	School	Location	Religious order	Founded
	Colegio Cristóbal Colón	Naucalpan		1938
	Colegio del Bosque México	Mexico City	Legion of Christ	1975
	Colegio La Salle Simón Bolívar	Mexico City	De La Salle Brothers	1910
	Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas	Mexico City		1734
	Cumbres Institute	Mexico City	Legion of Christ	1954
	Irish Institute	Naucalpan	Legion of Christ	1966

Former colleges, universities, and seminaries

School	Location	Religious order	Founded	Closed
Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco	Mexico City	Order of Friars Minor	1536	1555
College of San Fernando de Mexico	Mexico City	Order of Friars Minor	1734
Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico	Mexico City		1551	1865
San Ildefonso College	Mexico City	Society of Jesus	1588	1867
San Pedro y San Pablo College	Mexico City	Society of Jesus	1574	1767

External links and references

• Arquidiócesis Primada de México official site (in Spanish)
• "Archdiocese of México". Catholic-Hierarchy.
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Archdiocese of Mexico". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

19°26′04″N 99°07′59″W / 19.4344°N 99.1331°W

Canonical status and jurisdiction

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico (city) is a metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church.

• Part of: Ecclesiastical Province of México

External links

• Official website

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Archdiocese of Mexico

(Mexicana.)

Boundaries

The boundaries of the Diocese of Mexico were at first not well defined. When Cuba was discovered three sees were erected, but when the prelates arrived, their episcopal sees had been destroyed, and the inhabitants had fled. In order to avoid such mistakes, the Holy See allowed the kings of Spain to fix the boundaries of the new dioceses erected on the American continent, still considered a part of Asia. From 1500 to 1863 the Diocese of Mexico extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific, namely from Tampico to Acapulco. At present it is confined to the Federal District, the States of Morelos, Mexico, and part of Hidalgo.

Bishops

The first bishop, Zumarraga, came to Mexico when Clement VII had just been released from the prison in Castel Sant' Angelo, where he was kept by Charles V for several months after the sack of Rome by Bourbon's army. Strange as it may seem, he was allowed and even obliged to come with only the emperor's nomination, governed the diocese without any papal appointment, and styled himself "Omnimoda potestate Antistes". He returned to Spain, received his Bulls, and was consecrated six years after his first arrival on the American continent. He has been falsely accused of having destroyed most valuable monuments; he ought not to be blamed for having burnt the idols, temples, and hieroglyphics which prevented the conversion of the aborigines. In his time the Blessed Virgin, according to Mexican tradition, appeared to the neophyte Juan Diego, and became the patroness of America. He introduced the first printing office in the New World, published many books, founded many schools and colleges, and was a saintly man, a faithful follower of St. Francis of Assisi, to whose order he belonged. He ruled over the diocese, raised before he died to the rank of an archdiocese, from 1528 to 1548.

Five provincial councils have been held in the city of Mexico. The first and second under the second archbishop, Alonso de Montufar. The third was presided over by the third archbishop, Pedro Moya de Contreras. The twenty-fourth archbishop, Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana assembled and presided over the fourth provincial council in 1770. Prospero Alarcon, thirty-second archbishop, was the president of the fifth and last provincial council in 1896. The most important of all was the third council, which has been for centuries the code of ecclesiastical law for the Mexican Church.

Archbishops Moya de Contreras, García Guerra, Palafox, Osorio, Ortega, Haro y Peralta, and Lizana y Beaumont were also viceroys and captains-general of New Spain, and were as able to brandish the sword as to wield the crosier. Archbishop Labastida was regent of the short lived empire of Maximilian. He was the last prelate to be invested with any political authority.

The most distinguished of the line was Francisco Antonio de Lorenzana, transferred to Toledo, and created cardinal by Clement XIV. He published several important books, founded many institutions both in New and Old Spain, helped with his own means Pius VI when he was sent to France as a prisoner by Napoleon, and largely contributed to the support of the cardinals assembled in Venice, in the conclave that elected Pius VII.

A few years after the conquest, viz., in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Archdiocese of Mexico already possessed over fifty convents of nuns, a university, equal to that of Salamanca, several colleges, and numberless schools. Their number went on increasing, until all religious progress was stopped by the War of Independence and the civil wars that followed. All were destroyed by law and in reality under President Juárez. President Diaz has treated the Church better; but the penal laws have not been repealed. The present archbishop, Mgr. Mora y del Rio was born at Pajuacarán, 24 Feb., 1854; studied at Zamora and Rome; was ordained, 22 Dec., 1877; consecrated Bishop of Tehuantepec, 19 Jan., 1893; and promoted to the See of Mexico, 2 Dec., 1908 in succession to Mgr. Alarcon. The population almost entirely Catholic is about 780,000.

J. Montes De Oca Y Obregón.