The
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila or
Archdiocese of Manila is a
particular church or
diocese of the Catholic Church in the
Philippines. It is also considered as the
primatial see of the country currently headed by
Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales,
Archpriest of the
Manila Cathedral and Prince-Cardinal of the
Republic of the Philippines.
History
The original Diocese of Manila, the precursor to the most powerful archdiocese in Asia was canonically erected on February 6, 1579 encompassing all of the
Spanish colonies in Asia and originally was a
suffragan of
Mexico. Over the course of Philippine history and the growth of Catholicism in the region, the Archdiocese of Manila had carved new dioceses from its territory.
On August 14, 1595,
Pope Clement VIII raised the diocese to the status of an archdiocese and created three new dioceses as suffragan to Manila: Nueva Caceres, Nueva Segovia, and Cebu. With the creation of these new dioceses, the territory of the Archdiocese was reduced to the city of
Manila and the ten civil provinces in proximity to it, namely:
Rizal,
Bulacan,
Pampanga,
Nueva Ecija,
Batangas,
Laguna,
Cavite,
Bataan,
Zambales, and
Mindoro.
On April 10, 1910, the province of
Mindoro was established as an independent diocese by virtue of a
Decretum Consistoriale executed by
Pope Pius X, implementing the
Bull “
Quae Mari Sinico” of
Pope Leo XIII. Also on that date saw the creation of the Diocese of Lipa (now known as the
Archdiocese of Lipa) which had...
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