Catholic Intelligence

Archdiocese of São Paulo

Sancti Pauli in Brasilia

Latin Catholic metropolitan see covering the city of São Paulo, Brazil, erected as a diocese in 1745 and elevated to an archdiocese in 1908. It is one of the largest archdioceses in the world by population and is led by Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer.

The see

Rank
Metropolitan see
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
6 December 1745
Latin
Sancti Pauli in Brasilia
Patron
Saint Paul
Annuario code
001003000

The see in figures

Catholics
4,984,484
Population
7,669,976
Catholic share
65.0%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
1,035
Catholics per priest
4,816
Extent
655 km²
Catholics per km²
7,610

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

Archbishop
Odilo Scherer

A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.

The cathedral

Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora da Assunção e São Paulo stands in São Paulo, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of São Paulo

This see is the metropolitan of its province.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

A Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Brazil, São Paulo is known in Latin as Archidioecesis Sancti Pauli in Brasilia and in Portuguese as Arquidiocese de São Paulo. Odilo Scherer has led it since Pope Benedict XVI appointed him on 21 March 2007. That appointment closed almost four decades of Franciscan leadership, since both of his predecessors, Cardinals Paulo Evaristo Arns and Cláudio Hummes, were members of that Order.

What is kept by invitation

The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.

The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].