Archdiocese of Colombo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Colombo (Latin: Archidioecesis Columbensis in Taprobane) is an ecclesiastical terriotry or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. It was erected as the Diocese of Ceylon by Pope Gregory XVI on December 3, 1834, and renamed as the Diocese of Colombo on February 17, 1845. Pope Leo XIII elevated it to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese on September 1, 1886, with the suffragan sees of Anuradhapura, Badulla, Chilaw, Galle, Jaffna, Kandy, Kurunegala, Mannar, Ratnapura, and Trincomalee-Batticaloa.

Its name was changed by Pope Pius XII as the Archdiocese of Colombo in Ceylon on December 6, 1944, but was returned to simply the Archdiocese of Colombo on May 22, 1972 by Pope Paul VI. It is the only archdiocese in Sri Lanka.

The archdiocese's motherchurch and thus seat of its archbishop is St. Lucia’s Cathedral; it also contains the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka in Tewatta and St. Anthony's National Shrine in Kochchikade. The current Archbishop of Colombo is His Excellency Oswald Gomis, having been appointed by Pope John Paul II on July 6, 2002.