Catholic Intelligence

Archdiocese of Santo Domingo

Sancti Dominici

Latin rite metropolitan archdiocese of the Dominican capital and primatial see of America, erected in 1511 as one of the first dioceses in the New World and granted metropolitan status on 12 February 1546. Its seat is the Catedral Primada de America (Cathedral of Santa Maria la Menor), the oldest cathedral in the Americas, begun in 1514. Archbishop Francisco Ozoria Acosta has led the archdiocese since 2016, with Coadjutor Archbishop Carlos Tomas Morel Diplan installed in November 2025.

The see

Rank
Metropolitan see
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
8 August 1511
Latin
Sancti Dominici
Annuario code
001002980

The see in figures

Catholics
4,890,250
Population
5,770,529
Catholic share
84.7%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
316
Catholics per priest
15,475
Extent
4,033 km²
Catholics per km²
1,213

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
Francisco Ozoria Acosta
Born
10 October 1951
Birthplace
Nagua

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 Primada de America (Cathedral of Santa Maria la Menor), Santo Domingo stands in Santo Domingo, 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 Santo Domingo

This see is the metropolitan of its province.

The sees of this province:

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

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].