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Diocese of Funchal

Funchalen(sis)

The Diocese of Funchal is a Latin rite see covering the Madeira archipelago of Portugal, erected in 1514 and suffragan to the Patriarchate of Lisbon. It was briefly an archdiocese from 1533 to 1551 and is led by Bishop Nuno Brás da Silva Martins, who took office in 2019.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
12 January 1514
Latin
Funchalen(sis)
Patron
Saint James the Less
Annuario code
001001451

The see in figures

Catholics
250,300
Population
261,802
Catholic shareof the people living within its bounds
95.6%
Priests
73
Catholics per priest
3,429
Extent
800 km²
Catholics per km²
313

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
Nuno Brás da Silva Martins
Born
12 May 1963
Birthplace
Vimeiro

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 Our Lady of the Assumption, Funchal stands in Funchal, 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

The Diocese of Funchal (Latin: Dioecesis Funchalensis), a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory of the Catholic Church in Portugal, traces its origin to 12 June 1514, when Pope Leo X created it by the papal bull Pro excellenti præeminentia. This followed the elevation of Funchal from a village to city status by King Manuel I of Portugal (Royal Decree of 21 August 1508). The diocese was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lisbon.

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Sources

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.