Catholic Intelligence

Archdiocese of Lima

Liman(us)

The Archdiocese of Lima is the primatial metropolitan see of Peru, erected as a diocese in 1541 and elevated to an archdiocese in 1546. It is led by Cardinal Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio, archbishop since 2019 and created cardinal in 2024. Note: this see is an archdiocese, not a diocese.

The see

Rank
Metropolitan see
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
14 May 1541
Latin
Liman(us)
Patron
Our Lady of Evangelization
Annuario code
001002002

The see in figures

Catholics
3,224,000
Population
3,582,000
Catholic share
90.0%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
478
Catholics per priest
6,745
Extent
639 km²
Catholics per km²
5,045

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
Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio

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 Basílica San Juan Apóstol y Evangelista stands in Lima, 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 Lima

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

Founded as the Diocese of Lima on 14 May 1541, this see of the Catholic Church in Peru was raised to a metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Paul III on 12 February 1546, and it remains in full communion with the Holy See under the Latin title Archidioecesis Limana. Among those who have held the see was the saint Torribio Mogrovejo. From 1999 to 2019 the archbishop was Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, who was made a Cardinal in 2001. Its suffragan sees are Callao, Carabayllo, Chosica, Huacho, Ica, Lurín, and the Territorial Prelature of Yauyos, and the archdiocese is headquartered at the Archbishop's Palace of Lima.

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].