Catholic Intelligence

Archdiocese of Los Altos, Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán

Alten(sis), Quetzaltenanguen(sis)-Totonicapen(sis)

The Archdiocese of Los Altos Quetzaltenango-Totonicapan is a Latin rite metropolitan see in the western highlands of Guatemala, with a co-cathedral of San Miguel Arcangel in Totonicapan. Archbishop Victor Hugo Palma Paul was appointed on 10 December 2024 and has led the archdiocese since 22 February 2025.

The see

Rank
Metropolitan see
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
1921
Latin
Alten(sis), Quetzaltenanguen(sis)-Totonicapen(sis)
Patron
N-D du Rosaire
Annuario code
001002047

The see in figures

Catholics
712,076
Population
1,424,152
Catholic share
50.0%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
73
Catholics per priest
9,754
Extent
3,012 km²
Catholics per km²
236

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
Victor Hugo Palma Paul
Born
10 April 1958
Birthplace
Ciudad de Guatemala

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 del Espíritu Santo stands in Los Altos, Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

Its co-cathedral is Concatedral San Miguel Arcangel, Totonicapan.

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

The province of Los Altos Quetzaltenango-Totonicapan

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 metropolitan archdiocese in Guatemala, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Altos Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán (Latin: Archidioecesis Altensis, Quetzltenanguensis-Totonicapensis) has its archiepiscopal seat at Quetzaltenango Cathedral (Catedral del Espíritu Santo), a church first built in Quetzaltenango in 1535, together with a co-cathedral, San Miguel Arcángel, in Totonicapán. Mario Alberto Molina Palma led the see until his retirement on 10 December 2024, when Víctor Hugo Palma Paúl was appointed archbishop the same day.

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].