Metropolitan See
Metropolitan See is the archdiocese whose archbishop presides as metropolitan within a Latin ecclesiastical province.
The province's principal see
A metropolitan see is the particular Church designated as head of an ecclesiastical province. Its diocesan bishop normally bears the title metropolitan archbishop and receives the pallium from the Roman Pontiff as a sign of his office and communion with the Church of Rome. The designation belongs to canonical order; it does not necessarily mean that the city is politically or numerically greatest.[1]
The metropolitan governs his own archdiocese as its diocesan bishop. His relation to suffragan dioceses is distinct and narrowly defined. He does not appoint their pastors, direct their ordinary administration, or act as an intermediate pope. The law assigns vigilance and limited acts of supply so that provincial communion has concrete form without erasing episcopal authority.
Distinctions across Catholic traditions
Metropolitan see and archdiocese are related but not absolutely interchangeable terms: not every archdiocese necessarily heads a province, and canonical history includes sees with special arrangements. The metropolitan's liturgical precedence and use of the pallium follow law and do not create a fourth degree of Holy Orders above bishop.
A Latin metropolitan see must also be distinguished from a metropolitan Church sui iuris in Eastern canon law. The latter is an entire self-governing Eastern Catholic Church presided over by a metropolitan within the structure established by the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, not simply the leading diocese of a Latin province.[2]
References
- Back to citation Lumen gentium — Vatican II's dogmatic constitution on the mystery, constitution, and mission of the Church.
- Back to citation Code of Canon Law, canons 431–459 — Ecclesiastical provinces, metropolitans, councils, and conferences of bishops.