Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Anchorage
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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Anchorage is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the northwestern United States, comprised of several boroughs and census areas in the state of Alaska. It is led by a prelate archbishop which serves as pastor of the mother church, Cathedral of the Holy Family in the Municipality of Anchorage. The archbishop is concurrently metropolitan bishop of the suffragan dioceses of the Province of Anchorage: Fairbanks and Juneau.
The See of Anchorage was canonically erected on January 22, 1966. It took its territories from the Diocese of Juneau. Anchorage's large population and burgeoning community development rectified the creation of a new archdiocese in the city as opposed to elevating the already existing Diocese of Juneau to that rank.
The current Archbishop is Roger M. Schweitz, who succeeded Archbishop Emeritus: Francis Hurley.
The Archdiocese played host to visits from Pope John Paul II multiple times, most notably in 1980 when he celebrated Mass on the Anchorage Park Strip before 50,000 people.
