Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Leiria–Fátima

Leirien(sis)-Fatimen(sis)

The Diocese of Leiria-Fátima is a Latin rite see in central Portugal, suffragan to the Patriarchate of Lisbon, restored in 1918 and home to the Shrine of Fátima. It is led by Bishop José Ornelas Carvalho, who took office in 2022.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
22 May 1545
Latin
Leirien(sis)-Fatimen(sis)
Patron
Our Lady of Fátima
Annuario code
001001981

The see in figures

Catholics
248,500
Population
290,000
Catholic share
85.7%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
89
Catholics per priest
2,792
Extent
1,700 km²
Catholics per km²
146

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

Bishop
José Ornelas Carvalho
Born
5 January 1954
Birthplace
Porto da Cruz
Institute
SACERDOTI DEL SACRO CUORE DI GESÙ (DEHONIANI) (S.C.I.)

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

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Leiria stands in Leiria–Fátima, 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 Lisbon

A suffragan of Lisbon.

The sees of this province:

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

History

A suffragan see within the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Patriarchate of Lisbon, the Diocese of Leiria-Fátima (Latin: Dioecesis Leiriensis-Fatimensis) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic church in Portugal. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Conception in Leiria is the principal church of the episcopal see. The diocese also holds two minor basilicas, both in Fátima (the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary and the Basilica of the Holy Trinity), a World Heritage Site in the Monastery of Saint Mary of the Victory at Batalha, and a decommissioned former Cathedral, now ruined, the Church of Our Lady of Pena.

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].