Archdiocese of Colombo
Columben(sis) in Taprobane
Metropolitan see · Latin Church · Colombo, Sri Lanka
Latin metropolitan archdiocese of Sri Lanka, erected as the Diocese of Ceylon in 1834, renamed Diocese of Colombo in 1845 and elevated to a metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Leo XIII on 1 September 1886. Its cathedral is St. Lucia's Cathedral in Kotahena, Colombo, and it has eleven suffragan dioceses; Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith remains archbishop (verified in office 2026).
The see
- Rank
- Metropolitan see
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 22 May 1972
- Latin
- Columben(sis) in Taprobane
- Patron
- Our Lady of Assumption
- Annuario code
- 001001191
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 637,729
- Population
- 5,692,004
- Catholic share
- 11.2%
- Priests
- 552
- Catholics per priest
- 1,155
- Extent
- 3,838 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 166
of the people living within its bounds
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
- His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith
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
St. Lucia's Cathedral, Colombo stands in Colombo, 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 Colombo (metropolitan see)
This see is the metropolitan of its province.
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
As a Latin Catholic metropolitan see (Latin: Archidioecesis Columbensis in Taprobane), Colombo heads an ecclesiastical province that takes in all of Sri Lanka together with the Maldives, which fall within the archbishopric itself. The archdiocese depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, whom Pope Benedict XVI appointed on 16 June 2009, is the current archbishop, assisted by auxiliary bishops.
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.
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].