The seven suburbicarian dioceses are

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

diocese 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 associ ...

s located in the vicinity of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, whose (

titular Titular may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Title character in a narrative work, the character referred to in its title Religion * Titular (Catholicism), a cardinal who holds a titulus, one of the main churches of Rome ** Titular bisho ...

) bishops are the (now six) ordinary members of the highest-ranking order of

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...

s, the

cardinal bishop A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. C ...

s (to which the

cardinal-patriarch A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Col ...

s were added).

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 ...

has, in addition, co-opted five cardinals of the

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 Jo ...

to join the ranks of the Cardinal-Bishops.

Seven suburbicarian sees

The suburbicarian dioceses have varied slightly over time and nowadays consist of: * the Diocese of Ostia (since 1150 the additional see of the

Dean of the College of Cardinals The dean of the College of Cardinals ( la, Decanus Collegii Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalium) presides over the College of Cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church, serving as ''primus inter pares'' (first among equals). The position was establi ...

) * the Diocese of Velletri-Segni * the Diocese of Porto-Santa Rufina * the Diocese of Frascati (Tusculum) * the

Diocese of Palestrina The Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Palestrina ( la, Diocesis Praenestina) is a Roman Catholic suburbicarian diocese centered on the comune of Palestrina in Italy. The current bishop of Palestrina is Domenico Sigalini, who from 3 Novemb ...

* the Diocese of Albano * the Diocese of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto The see of Ostia is conferred on the

in addition to the see he already had. (Until 1914, the dean received the see of Ostia and Velletri in place of the see he had earlier. The sees of Ostia and Velletri were separated in 1914.) The cardinal-dean used to be the longest-serving cardinal bishop, but is now chosen by the six cardinal bishops with the approval of the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Incumbents

Diocesan administration

The increasing involvement of the cardinal bishops in the administration of the papal curia resulted in a detachment from their dioceses. Therefore, some of them, in particular the cardinal-bishops of Sabina and Velletri, have for centuries had auxiliary bishops and in 1910

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of ...

's apostolic constitution ''Apostolicae Romanorum'' made this practice obligatory for all suburbicarian dioceses. In 1962,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 28 Oc ...

in his decree ''Suburbicarii sedis'' made the cardinal bishops into titular bishops and made provision for the appointment of separate residential diocesan bishops for Velletri-Segni, Porto-Santa-Rufina, Frascati, Palestrina, Albano and Sabina. For the diocese of Ostia — the titular diocese of the

— no resident diocesan bishop was appointed; it is entrusted to an

apostolic administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic adm ...

, which is always the Cardinal Vicar of Rome. Though the diocesan bishops exercise all episcopal administrative functions, the cardinal bishops still formally take possession of their titular dioceses.

References

{{Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Rome # Titular sees

Seven suburbicarian sees

Incumbents

Diocesan administration

See also

References