Catholic Intelligence

Archdiocese of Panamá

Panamen(sis)

Latin rite metropolitan archdiocese erected 28 August 1513 as the Diocese of Santa Maria de La Antigua del Darien, the oldest see on the American mainland, transferred to Panama City in 1520 and elevated to metropolitan rank on 29 November 1925. Its mother church is the Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Santa Maria la Antigua, and its suffragans are Chitre, Colon-Kuna Yala, David, Penonome, Santiago de Veraguas and the Prelature of Bocas del Toro.

The see

Rank
Metropolitan see
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
9 September 1513
Latin
Panamen(sis)
Patron
de la Antigua
Annuario code
001002531

The see in figures

Catholics
633,705
Population
704,117
Catholic share
90.0%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
176
Catholics per priest
3,601
Extent
13,275 km²
Catholics per km²
48

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
Jose Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, O.S.A.

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

Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Santa Maria la Antigua stands in Panamá, 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 Panama

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

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Panamá traces its origin to 28 August 1513, when it was erected as the Diocese of Santa María de La Antigua del Darién, a see originally situated upriver from the mouth of the Atrato River on the Gulf of Urabá in the Castilla de Oro province. As a metropolitan archdiocese, it presides over the suffragan dioceses of Chitré, Colón-Kuna Yala, David, Penonomé and Santiago de Veraguas, together with the Territorial Prelature of Bocas del Toro.

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].