The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rosario (Archidioecesis Rosariensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

 of the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 in the southern part of the province

Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...

 of Santa Fe

Santa Fe Province

The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, with its motherchurch, the Basilica Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary

Basilica Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary

The Cathedral Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary is a minor basilica and cathedral dedicated to the local Virgin of the Rosary, in the city of Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is the motherchurch of the Archdiocese of Rosario....

, located in the city of Rosario

Rosario

Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the western shore of the Paraná River and has 1,159,004 residents as of the ....

. The Archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

 since 22 December 2005 is José Luis Mollaghan and the Auxiliary Bishop

Auxiliary bishop

An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it requires more than one bishop to administer, or the diocese is attached to a royal or imperial office...

 was Sergio Fenoy, until he was appointed Bishop of San Miguel the 5 December 2006. The former archbishop Eduardo Mirás served as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese between 22 December 2005 and 18 March 2006, the date that Msgr. Mollaghan was installed.

The Archdiocese has an area of 13,500 km² and a population of around 1,700,000, with 121 parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

es. Its ecclesiastical province

Ecclesiastical Province

An ecclesiastical province is a large jurisdiction of religious government, so named by analogy with a secular province, existing in certain hierarchical Christian churches, especially in the Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches and in the Anglican Communion...

 includes the departments

Departments of Argentina

Departments form the second level of administrative division in the provinces of Argentina. There are no departments in the city of Buenos Aires, which has so far been divided into neighbourhoods as its administrative divisions, but is to be divided now into communes by a recently passed local act...

 of Belgrano

Belgrano Department, Santa Fe

The Belgrano Department is an administrative subdivision of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located in the southwest of the province...

, General López

General López Department

The General López Department is an administrative subdivision of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located in the south of the province...

, Iriondo

Iriondo Department

The Iriondo Department is an administrative subdivision of the . It is located in the south of the province. It limits with the departments of San Jerónimo in the north, San Lorenzo in the east, Caseros in the south, and Belgrano in the west...

, Rosario

Rosario Department

The Rosario Department is an administrative subdivision of the . It is located on the south of the province, with its eastern border coinciding with the provincial border along the Paraná River. It has an area of 1,890 km² and a population of 1.3 million, with a population density of about 700...

 and San Lorenzo

San Lorenzo Department

The San Lorenzo Department is an administrative subdivision of the . It is located in the south of the province...

, plus almost the whole departments of Caseros

Caseros Department

The Caseros Department is an administrative subdivision of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located in the south of the province...

 and Constitución

Constitución Department

The Constitución Department is an administrative subdivision of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is located on the south of the province. It has about 83,000 inhabitants as per the...

. It has two suffragan bishops

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

, corresponding to the dioceses of San Nicolás de los Arroyos

San Nicolás de los Arroyos

San Nicolás de los Arroyos is a city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the western shore of the Paraná River, 61 km from Rosario. It has about 138,000 inhabitants . It is the head town of the partido of the same name...

 and Venado Tuerto

Venado Tuerto

Venado Tuerto is a city in the south-west of the , 322 km from the provincial capital. It has about 70,000 inhabitants .Venado Tuerto was founded on April 26, 1884 by Eduardo Casey, born in Lobos, Buenos Aires, in 1847. He was the son of two Irish immigrants who had amassed considerable wealth...

.

History

The diocese was created by Pope Pius XI

Pope Pius XI

Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...

 through the bull

Papal bull

A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....

 Nobilis Argentinae Nationis Ecclesia on 20 April 1934, along with nine others, citing a lack of sufficient episcopal see

Episcopal See

An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...

s to attend to the population. The first bishop was Antonio Caggiano, who was elevated to the episcopal dignity specifically for this post; at the time he was the General Counselor of the Argentine Catholic Action.

Rosario was turned into an archdiocese by Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul VI

Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...

 on 12 August 1963. On 7 October 1966 (day of the Virgin of the Rosary) the pope named Rosario "City of Mary" and elevated the Cathedral to Basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

.

List of bishops

• Antonio Caggiano (1935–1959)
• Silvino Martínez (1959–1961)
• Guillermo Bolatti (1963–1982) — first Archbishop
• Jorge Manuel López
  Jorge Manuel López
  Jorge Manuel López was an Argentine Roman Catholic bishop. He was born in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, where he was ordained priest in 1942. He was appointed auxiliary bishop in the city's diocese on 20 May 1968...
  
   (1983–1993)
• Eduardo Mirás (1994–2005)
• José Luis Mollaghan (2006–present)