Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lisbon

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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lisbon (Latin: Archidioecesis Lisbonensis) is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Portugal. Erected as the Diocese of Lisbon in the 4th Century, the Diocese was elevated to an Archdiocese in 1392. In 1716, the Archdiocese was elevated to a Patriarchal See, one of the very few in all of the Catholic Church.

The Archdiocese is the metropolitan of 7 suffragan dioceses: Angra, Guarda, Leiria-Fátima, Portalegre-Castelo Branco, Santarém, Setúbal.

The current Archbishop is José da Cruz Policarpo, appointed in March of 1998.

[edit] The see and its history

The diocese of Lisbon was created in the 4th century, but it lay vacant after 716 when the city was captured by the Moors, even if there are references to Mozarabic bishops, of the Mozarabic Rite, in that period. The diocese was restored when the city was recaptured by Afonso I of Portugal during the Second Crusade in 1147 in the siege of Lisbon. It was elevated first to an archdiocese on November 10, 1394, and then to a patriarchal see on November 7, 1716.

There are over two million people living in 282 parishes within the see, 85% of whom are nominally Catholic. The suffragan dioceses of the see are Angra, Funchal, Guarda, Leiria-Fátima, Portalegre-Castelo Branco, Santarém, and Setúbal. The former diocese of Silves, comprising the Algarve, and currently , was only transferred from the Spanish province of Sevilla in 1393. One of the others Portuguese archbishoprics, Braga in the north, is older: 1104, and claimed to be the primate over all Portugal and northwest Spain (including Santiago archbishopric).