Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila

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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