Archdiocese of Colombo
Columben(sis) in Taprobane
Metropolitan see · Latin Church · Colombo, Sri Lanka
Latin metropolitan archdiocese of Sri Lanka, erected as the Diocese of Ceylon in 1834, renamed Diocese of Colombo in 1845 and elevated to a metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Leo XIII on 1 September 1886. Its cathedral is St. Lucia's Cathedral in Kotahena, Colombo, and it has eleven suffragan dioceses; Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith remains archbishop (verified in office 2026).
The see
- Rank
- Metropolitan see
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 22 May 1972
- Latin
- Columben(sis) in Taprobane
- Patron
- Our Lady of Assumption
- Annuario code
- 001001191
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 637,729
- Population
- 5,692,004
- Catholic shareof the people living within its bounds
- 11.2%
- Priests
- 552
- Catholics per priest
- 1,155
- Extent
- 3,838 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 166
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
- His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith
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
St. Lucia's Cathedral, Colombo stands in Colombo, 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 Colombo (metropolitan see)
This see is the metropolitan of its province.
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
As a Latin Catholic metropolitan see (Latin: Archidioecesis Columbensis in Taprobane), Colombo heads an ecclesiastical province that takes in all of Sri Lanka together with the Maldives, which fall within the archbishopric itself. The archdiocese depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, whom Pope Benedict XVI appointed on 16 June 2009, is the current archbishop, assisted by auxiliary bishops.
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The see's own website · Wikipedia
Compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. Corrections: hello@catholicintelligence.com.