Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala

The Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Guatemala.^[1][2] It is a primatial metropolitan see with six suffragan dioceses in its ecclesiastical province.

Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala Archidioecesis Sancti Iacobi in Guatemala Arquidiócesis de Santiago de Guatemala
Location
Country	Guatemala
Ecclesiastical province	Province of Santiago de Guatemala
Population	3,486,000 (80%)
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	December 18, 1534
Cathedral	Primatial Metropolitan Cathedral of St. James
Patron saint	Assumption of Mary, Saint James the Greater
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Archbishop	Gonzalo de Villa y Vásquez, S.J.
Auxiliary Bishops	Gustavo Rodolfo Mendoza Hernández Raúl Antonio Martinez Paredes José Cayetano Parra Novo

Special churches

Its cathedral is the Catedral Primada Metropolitana de Santiago, is the episcopal see in the national capital Ciudad de Guatemala.

It also has

• the former Cathedral, a World Heritage Site: Catedral de San José, Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez
• a Minor Basilica, National Shrine: Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
• other National Shrine: Iglesia de San Francisco el Grande, Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez
• further Shrines: Santuario Arquidiocesano del Señor San José, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala and Santuario Expiatorio al Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala

History

• It was erected 18 December 1534, as the Diocese of Guatemala, on territory split off from the then Diocese of Santo Domingo.
• On 21 June 1561 territory was ceded to establish the Diocese of Vera Paz
• It was elevated to Metropolitan Archdiocese of Guatemala on 16 December 1743.
• It lost territory repeatedly: on 28 September 1842, to establish the then Diocese of San Salvador, on 27 July 1921, to establish the then Roman Catholic Diocese of Quetzaltenango, Los Altos (now also a metropolitan archdiocese) and the then Apostolic Vicariate of Verapaz and Petén, on 10 March 1951, to establish the dioceses of Jalapa (its suffragan), Sololá and the Zacapa, on 9 May 1969, to establish the Territorial Prelature of Escuintla, and on 27 April 1996, to establish its suffragan Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima.
• Papal visits were undertaken by Pope John Paul II in March 1983, February 1996 and July 2002.
• The Archdiocese was renamed as the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de Guatemala on 23 April 2013.

Province

Its ecclesiastical province comprises the Metropolitan's own Archbishopric and the following suffragan bishoprics :

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Escuintla
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalapa
• Roman Catholic Diocese of San Francisco de Asís de Jutiapa
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Verapaz, Cobán
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Zacapa y Santo Cristo de Esquipulas.

Episcopal ordinaries

Bishops of Guatemala

• Francisco Marroquin Hurtado (1523–1563)^[3]
• Bernardino de Villalpando, C.R.S.A. (1564–1569)^[3]
• Pedro Gómez de Córdoba, O.S.H. (1574–1598)^[3]
• Juan Ramírez de Arellano, O.P. (1600–1609)^[3]
• Juan de las Cabezas Altamirano (1610–1615)^[4]
• Pedro de Valencia (1615–1617) appointed Bishop of La Paz^[5]
• Juan de Zapata y Sandoval, O.S.A. (1621–1630)^[6]
• Agustín de Ugarte y Sarabia (1630–1641)^[7]
• Bartolomé González Soltero (1641–1650)
• Juan Garcilaso de la Vega (1652–1657)
• Payo Enríquez de Rivera Manrique, O.S.A. (1657–1668)
• Juan de Sancto Mathía Sáenz de Mañozca y Murillo (1668–1675)^[8]
• Juan de Ortega Cano Montañez y Patiño (1675–1682)
• Andrés de las Navas y Quevedo, O. de M. (1682–1702)^[9]
• Mauro de Larreátegui y Colón, O.S.B. (1703–1711)
• Juan Bautista Álvarez de Toledo, O.F.M. (1713–1723)
• Nicolás Carlos Gómez de Cervantes y Velázquez de la Cadena (1723–1726)
• Juan Leandro Gómez de Parada Valdez y Mendoza (1728–1735)
• Pedro Pardo de Figueroa, O.M. (1735–1743 see below)

Archbishops of Guatemala

• Pedro Pardo de Figueroa, O.M. (see above 1743–1751)
• Francisco José de Figueredo y Victoria (1752–1765)
• Pedro Cortés y Larraz (1766–1779)
• Cayetano Francos y Monroy (1778–1792)
• Juan Félix de Villegas (1793–1800)
• Luis Ignatius Peñalver y Cárdenas (1801–1805)
• Rafael de La Vara (1806–1809)
• Francisco Ramón Valentín de Casaus y Torres, O.P. (1815–1845)
• Francisco de Paul García Peláez (1845–1867)
• José Bernardo Piñol y Aycinena (1867–1881)
• Ricardo Casanova y Estrada (1886–1913)
• Julio Ramón Riveiro y Jacinto, O.P. (1914–1921)
• Luis Javier Muñoz y Capurón, S.J. (1921–1927)
• Luis Durou y Sure, C.M. (1928–1938)
• Mariano Rossell y Arellano (1939–1964)
• Mario Casariego y Acevedo, C.R.S. (1964–1983); elevated to Cardinal in 1969
• Próspero Penados del Barrio (1983–2001)
• Rodolfo Quezada Toruño (2001–2010); elevated to Cardinal in 2003
• Óscar Julio Vian Morales, S.D.B. (2010 – April 25, 2013 see below)

Archbishops of Santiago de Guatemala

• Óscar Julio Vian Morales, S.D.B. (see above April 25, 2013 – February 24, 2018)
• Gonzalo de Villa y Vásquez, S.J. (July 9, 2020 – present)

Coadjutor bishops

• Fernando Ortiz de Hinojosa (1598); did not take effect
• Francisco de Paul García Peláez (1843–1845)
• Mario Casariego y Acevedo, C.R.S. (1963–1964); future Cardinal

Auxiliary bishops

• Miguel Cilieza y Velasco (1765–1767), appointed Bishop of Chiapas (Ciudad Real de Chiapas)
• Antonio Larrazábal (1839–1846), never consecrated
• Juan Félix de Jesús Zepeda, O.F.M. Obs. (1859–1861), appointed Bishop of Comayagua, Honduras
• Juan José de Aycinena y Piñol (1859–1865)
• osé María Barrutia y Croquer (1859–1864)
• Emmanuele Francesco Barrutia y Croquer (1865–1879)
• Miguel Angel García y Aráuz (1944–1951), appointed Bishop of Jalapa
• Rafael González Estrada (1955–1984)
• Mario Casariego y Acevedo, C.R.S. (1958–1963), appointed Coadjutor here; future Cardinal
• José Ramiro Pellecer Samayoa (1967–2010)
• James Richard Ham, M.M. (1967–1979)
• Luis Mario Martínez de Lejarza Valle, S.J. (1968–1980)
• Eduardo Ernesto Fuentes Duarte (1980–1982), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Sololá
• Julio Amílcar Bethancourt Fioravanti (1982–1984), appointed Bishop of San Marcos
• Juan José Gerardi Conedera (1984–1998)
• Mario Enrique Ríos Mont, C.M. (1987–2010)
• Gonzalo de Villa y Vásquez, S.J. (2004–2007), appointed Bishop of Sololá-Chimaltenango
• Gustavo Rodolfo Mendoza Hernández (2004–2016)
• Raúl Antonio Martinez Paredes (2007–)
• José Cayetano Parra Novo, O.P. (2016–)

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

• Jorge de Viteri y Ungo, appointed Bishop of San Salvador in 1843
• José Cándido Piñol y Batres, appointed Bishop of Granada, Nicaragua in 1913
• Jorge García Caballeros, appointed Bishop of Quetzaltenango, Los Altos in 1928
• Pablo Vizcaíno Prado, appointed Bishop of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu in 1996
• Victor Hugo Palma Paúl, appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Escuintla in 2001
• Álvaro Leonel Ramazzini Imeri, appointed Bishop of San Marcos in 2008; elevated as Cardinal in 2019
• Carlos Enrique Trinidad Gómez, appointed Bishop of San Marcos in 2014

Churches

• Iglesia Católica Sagrado Corazón de Jesus, Guatemala City
• Iglesia de Cristo Pinares del Nort