The Archdiocese of Mexico ( la, Archidioecesis Mexicanensis) is a

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

ecclesiastical territory or

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

that is situated in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Gua ...

. It was erected as a diocese on 2 September 1530 and elevated to an archdiocese on 12 February 1546."Archdiocese of México"
''

Catholic-Hierarchy.org ''Catholic-Hierarchy.org'' is an online database of bishops and dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Catholic Churches. The website is not officially sanctioned by the Church. It is run as a private project by David M. Cheney in ...

''. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016"Metropolitan Archdiocese of México"
''GCatholic.org''. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016 The archdiocese is one of the largest in the world, with over four million Catholics, surpassed only by

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadal ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

. Prior to 2019, the archdiocese was the largest in the world, with nearly 8 million Catholics. In September 2019,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

approved the division of the archdiocese, erecting three new

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, ...

s from its territory:

Azcapotzalco Azcapotzalco ( nci, Āzcapōtzalco , , from '' āzcapōtzalli'' “anthill” + '' -co'' “place”; literally, “In the place of the anthills”) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. Azcapotzalco is in the northwestern p ...

, Iztapalapa, and

Xochimilco Xochimilco (; nci, Xōchimīlco, ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') of Mexico City. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in t ...

. These are the only three suffragans within the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

of which the archdiocese is the

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a ...

. Today, the archdiocese's territory comprises most of

, with the exception of the three new dioceses, each of which is coextensive with its eponymous borough. The

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the raised throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

of the archdiocese is found within the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City.

Bishops

Ordinaries

Ordinaries who became Cardinals: * Miguel Darío Miranda y Gómez, in 1969 * Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada, in 1979 *

Norberto Rivera Carrera Norberto Rivera Carrera (born 6 June 1942) is a Mexican prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who was archbishop of Mexico City from 1995 to 2017. He was made a cardinal in 1998. He was Bishop of Tehuacán from 1985 to 1995. Early life and minis ...

, in 1998 * Carlos Aguiar Retes, in 2016 while Archbishop of Tlalnepantla

Coadjutor archbishop

* Miguel Darío Cardinal Miranda y Gómez (1955–1956); future Cardinal

Current auxiliary bishops

* Rogelio Esquivel Medina (appointed 27 June 2001) * Salvador González Morales (appointed 16 February 2019) * Carlos Enrique Samaniego López (appointed 16 February 2019) * Luis Manuel Pérez Raygoza (appointed 25 January 2020) * Héctor Mario Pérez Villarreal (appointed 25 January 2020)

Former auxiliary bishops

* Juan Manuel de Irrizarri y Peralta (27 April 1840 – 27 March 1849) * Maximino Ruiz y Flores (8 March 1920 – 11 May 1949) * Francisco Orozco Lomelín (19 March 1952 – 17 October 1990) * José Villalón Mercado (1 April 1952 – 12 September 1977) * Alfredo Torres Romero (30 December 1967 – 4 January 1975), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Aguascalientes * Luis Mena Arroyo (13 July 1961 – 1 September 1964), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Chihuahua; returned here as Auxiliary Bishop (27 July 1979 – 9 September 1995), with personal title of Archbishop * Jorge Martínez Martínez (5 June 1971 – 1 August 1994) * Javier Lozano Barragán (5 June 1979 – 28 October 1984), appointed Bishop of Zacatecas; future Cardinal * Francisco María Aguilera González (5 June 1979 – 12 January 1996) * Carlos Talavera Ramírez (15 January 1980 – 14 March 1984), appointed Bishop of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz * Genaro Alamilla Arteaga (26 January 1980 – 10 October 1989) * Ricardo Watty Urquidi, M.Sp.S. (27 May 1980 – 6 November 1989), appointed Bishop of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas * Abelardo Alvarado Alcántara (26 April 1985 – 22 July 2008) * José de Jesús Martínez Zepeda (11 March 1997 – 3 January 2004), appointed Bishop of Irapuato, Guanajuato * Marcelino Hernández Rodríguez (5 January 1998 – 23 February 2008), appointed Bishop of Orizaba, Veracruz * José Luis Fletes Santana (29 January 2000 – 31 May 2003) * Guillermo Rodrigo Teodoro Ortiz Mondragón (29 January 2000 – 19 October 2005), appointed Bishop of Cuautitlán, México * Felipe Tejeda García, M.Sp.S. (29 January 2000 – 30 July 2010) * Jonás Guerrero Corona (27 June 2001 – 18 March 2011), appointed Bishop of Culiacán, Sinaloa * Francisco Clavel Gil (27 June 2001 – 28 May 2013) * Antonio Ortega Franco, C.O. (11 February 2004 – 16 February 2019) * José Víctor Manuel Valentín Sánchez Espinosa (2 March 2004 – 5 February 2009), appointed Archbishop of Puebla de los Ángeles, Puebla * Carlos Briseño Arch, O.A.R. (20 May 2006 - 12 November 2018), appointed Bishop of Veracruz * Florencio Armando Colín Cruz (27 November 2008 - 16 February 2019), appointed Bishop of Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca * Crispin Ojeda Márquez (4 June 2011 - 27 July 2018), appointed Bishop of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca * Jorge Estrada Solórzano (28 May 2013 – 11 May 2019), appointed Bishop of Gómez Palacio, Durango * Francisco Daniel Rivera Sánchez, M.Sp.S. (appointed 25 January 2020 – died 18 January 2021)

Other priests of the archdiocese who became bishops

* Bernardo Gárate y López de Arizmendi (15 December 1819 – 19 March 1863), appointed Bishop of Querétaro * Manuel Fulcheri y Pietrasanta (17 December 1898 – 6 May 1912), appointed Bishop of Cuernavaca * Gerardo Anaya y Diez de Bonilla (2 April 1904 – 8 March 1920), appointed Bishop of Chiapas (Ciudad Real de Chiapas) * Arturo Vélez Martínez (29 June 1934 – 8 February 1951), appointed Bishop of Toluca

Territorial losses

Education

Colleges, universities, and seminaries

Secondary schools

Former colleges, universities, and seminaries

References

External links and references

Arquidiócesis Primada de México
''official site (in Spanish)'' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mexico Religion in Mexico City Roman Catholic dioceses in Mexico Religious organizations established in the 1530s 1530 establishments in New Spain 1530s establishments in Mexico Religious organizations established in the 1540s 1546 establishments in New Spain Roman Catholic dioceses established in the 16th century A Roman Catholic ecclesiastical provinces in Mexico