Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Asunción

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Asunción (Latin: Archidioecesis Sanctissimae Assumptionis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Paraguay. It was erected it as the Diocese of Paraguay by Pope Paul III on July 1, 1547, and was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Pius XI on May 1, 1929, with the suffragan sees of Benjamín Aceval, Caacupé, Carapeguá, Ciudad del Este, Concepción, Coronel Oviedo, Encarnación, San Juan Bautista de las Misiones, San Lorenzo, San Pedro, and Villarrica del Espíritu Santo.

The archdiocese's mother church and thus seat of its archbishop is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. As the only metropolitan in Paraguay, it is also the primatial see of that country. The current Archbishop of Asunción is His Excellency, the Most Reverend Archbishop Eustaquio Cuquejo Verga, CSSR, having been appointed by the late former Holy Father, His Holiness, Blessed Pope John Paul II on June 15, 2002. On Tuesday, November 8, 2011, the Holy Father, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, appointed His Excellency, the Most Reverend Bishop Edmundo Valenzuela Mellid Pontian, S.D.B., as Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese. Up until now, he had served as Vicar Apostolic of the Roman Catholic Vicariate Apostolic of Chaco Paraguayo, with the ecclesiastical rank of Bishop (Vicariates Apostolic are a type of jurisdiction that rank right below a Diocese). He was born in Villarrica of Espiritu Santo, Paraguay, on November 19, 1944. He was ordained to the priesthood on April 3, 1971, as a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He received a Licentiate in Theology from the Salesian University in Rome. At one time, he was a missionary in Angola (1991-2006). On February 13, 2006, he was named Titular Bishop of Uzal and appointed Vicar Apostolic of Chaco, Paraguay, receiving episcopal ordination on April 22, 2006. As part of the Episcopal Conference of Paraguay, he serves as Chairman of the Commission for Catholic Education.

List of bishops and archbishops of Asunción

• Juan de los Barrios, OFM (1547 - 1552)
• Pedro de la Torre, OFM (1554 - 1573)
• Alfonso Guerra, OP (1579 - 1592)
• Baltazar de Cobarrubias y Múñoz, OSA (1601 - 1603)
• Reginaldo de Lizárraga, OP (1609)
• Lorenzo Pérez de Grado (1615 - 1619)
• Tomás de la Torre Gibaja, OP (1620 - 1628)
• Cristóbal de Aresti Martínez de Aguilar, OSB (1629 - 1635)
• Sebastián de Pastrana, OdeM (1687 - 1700)
• José Paravicino, OFM (1738 - 1747)
• Manuel de la Torre (1756 - 1762)
• Luis Velasco, OFM (1779 - 1792)
• Nicolás Videla del Pino (1802 - 1807)
• Pedro García Panés, OFM (1807 - 1838)
• Pietro Aponte (1879 - ?)
• Sinforiano Bogarín (1894 - 1949)
• Juan Mena Porta (1949 - 1970)
• Ismael Blas Rolón Silvero, SDB (1970 - 1989)
• Felipe Benítez Avalos (1989 - 2002)
• Eustaquio Cuquejo Verga, CSSR (2002 - present)

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Paraguay

External links

• Official site
• Catholic-Hierarchy
• Giga-Catholic Information

See also: List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Paraguay