Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán (Latin: Archidioecesis Yucatanensis) is the diocese of the Catholic Church based in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico; the Campeche and the Tabasco are its suffragans.[1][2] Its area is that of the state of the same name, covering an area of 17,204 square miles.

Archdiocese of Yucatán

Archidioecesis Yucatanensis

Arquidiócesis de Yucatán
Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Ildephonsus
Location
Country Mexico
Ecclesiastical provinceYucatán
Statistics
Area15,229 sq mi (39,440 km2)
Population
- Total
- Catholics (including non-members)		(as of 2010)
1,990,000
1,743,000 (87.6%)
Parishes103
Information
DenominationCatholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
Established19 November 1561 (459 years ago)
CathedralCathedral of St. Ildephonsus
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
ArchbishopGustavo Rodríguez Vega
Auxiliary BishopsJosé Rafael Palma Capetillo
Bishops emeritusEmilio Carlos Berlie Belaunzarán
Map
Website
arquidiocesisdeyucatan.org.mx

History

There is a legend created by missionaries within decades after the military conquest of the Aztec capital that long before the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico the Christian religion had been preached among the Aztecs and other Central Mexicans. This myth is sometimes projected onto the Maya based on popular misunderstanding and thinking that all Mesoamerican peoples are the same. In other words, in popular understandings precolumbian Mexicans are confused and conflated with the Maya peoples who lived in different parts of contemporary Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. No Maya people, particularly not in Yucatán Peninsula, had a myth that Quetzalcoatl Quetzacoatl was going to "return" nor was there ever any "confusion" by Maya peoples that any Spaniard was a "god" such as purported by the famous colonial myth that Cortes was interpreted as Quetzalcoatl by Aztecs.

Yucatán was the first region of the Mexican territory to encounter Christianity in the 16th century; it was there that the first Roman Catholic Mass was celebrated. It is said that in 1517 Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, the discoverer and explorer of the region, founded the first parish. Pope Leo X, believing the newly discovered land to be an island, by the papal bull Sacri apostolatus ministerio, dated 27 January 1518, created the Diocese of Yucatán, under the name Carolense and placed it under the protection of Our Lady of the Remedies (Santa Maria de los Remedios).

When it became known that Yucatán was part of the continent which Hernán Cortés was conquering, Pope Clement VII made certain modifications, and Dominican friar Julián Garcés, was transferred from his office of Bishop of Yucatán to that of Bishop of Tlaxcala (now the Archdiocese of Puebla de los Angeles) when he arrived in Mexico, as the Spanish had abandoned the conquest of Yucatán for this new land.[3] The first resident bishop was Francisco Toral, a Franciscan friar, who took possession on 15 August 1562, one year after his appointment;[4] he assisted at the first and second Mexican Provincial Councils.

Marcos de Torres y Rueda, the 12th bishop (1647), owing to dissensions between Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Bishop of Puebla, and Viceroy García Sarmiento de Sotomayor, 2nd conde de Salvatierra, was named Viceroy of New Spain and entered into office 13 May 1648; he died at the capital, 22 April 1649.

Juan Gómez de Parada, the 20th bishop, governed the dioceses of Yucatán, Guatemala, and Guadalajara with great success. His successor, Ignacio Castorena y Ursúa, was the founder of the first newspaper published in Mexico. José María Guerra, 35th bishop (d. 1863), lived during the famous Caste War, which ruined almost the whole of Yucatán. It was at the instance of Leandro Rodríguez de la Gala, his successor, that the new See of Tabasco was formed from parishes taken from the Diocese of Yucatán. The Province and Vicariate of Petén, situated in Guatemala, which ecclesiastically had belonged to Yucatán, became a part of the See of Guatemala. Believing that the colony of Belize was his dependency, the bishop sent missionaries there in 1864; this land, however, had been under the administration of priests sent form the Vicariate Apostolic of Jamaica since 1837. The Diocese of Yucatán was suffragan of Mexico until 1891, when it became suffragan of the newly created Archdiocese of Oaxaca. In 1895 the new See of Campeche was created from parishes taken from Yucatán, to which was added all the territory of Quintana Roo.

Bishops
Ordinaries of Diocese of Carolense
Ordinaries of Diocese of Yucatán
Ordinaries of Archdiocese of Yucatán
  • Martín Tritschler y Córdoba, see above
  • Fernando Ruiz y Solózarno (22 January 1944 – 15 May 1969)
  • Manuel Castro Ruiz (20 September 1969 – 15 March 1995)
  • Emilio Carlos Berlie Belaunzarán (15 March 1995 – 1 June 2015)
  • Gustavo Rodríguez Vega (1 June 2015 – present); formerly, since 2008, Bishop of Nuevo Laredo

Coadjutor bishop
  • Crescencio Carrillo y Ancona (1884–1887)

Auxiliary bishops
  • Manuel José Pardio Lizama (1840–1861)
  • Manuel Castro Ruiz (1965–1969), appointed Archbishop here
  • Domingo Jafet Herrera Castillo (1978–1981)
  • Ramón Castro Castro (2004–2006), appointed Bishop of Campeche
  • José Rafael Palma Capetillo (2004–2016), appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Jalapa (Xalapa), Veracruz
  • Fabio Martínez Castilla (2017–

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
  • Luis Miguel Cantón Marín, appointed Bishop of Tapachula, Chiapas in 1984
  • Lázaro Pérez Jiménez, appointed Bishop of Autlán, Jalisco in 1991
  • Fabio Martínez Castilla, appointed Bishop of Ciudad Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán in 2007
  • Jorge Carlos Patrón Wong, appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Papantla, Puebla in 2009

See also

References
  1. "Archdiocese of Yucatán" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016
  2. "Metropolitan Archdiocese of Yucatán" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016
  3. "Diocese of Carolense (Yucatán)". Catholic Hierarchy.
  4. "Archdiocese of Puebla de los Ángeles, Puebla". Catholic Hierarchy.
  5. Catholic Hierarchy: "Diocese of Carolense (Yucatán) - Suppressed" retrieved November 13, 2015
  6. Archdiocese of Yucatan: "Historia de Obispos" Archived 2015-11-19 at the Wayback Machine retrieved November 18, 2015
  7. "Bishop Francisco del Toral, O.F.M." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. retrieved November 18, 2015
  8. "Bishop Gregorio de Montalvo Olivera, O.P." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved March 21, 2016
  9. "Bishop Juan de Izquierdo, O.F.M." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved July 31, 2016
  10. "Archbishop Diego Vázquez de Mercado" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016
  11. "Father Andrés Fernandez de Ipenza" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved August 27, 2016
  12. "Bishop Domingo de Villaescusa Ramírez de Arellano, O.S.H." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved October 7, 2016
  13. "Bishop Domingo de Villaescusa y Ramírez de Arellano, O.S.H." GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved October 7, 2016
  14. "Bishop Luís de Cifuentes y Sotomayor, O.P." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved September 25, 2016
  15. "Archbishop Juan de Escalante Turcios y Mendoza" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved July 31, 2016

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