Porta Coeli Cathedral, Mexico City
The Porta Coeli Cathedral also called Church of the Gate of Heaven or Church of Porta Coeli Is the name that receives a religious building that belongs to the Catholic church follows the Greek Melkite rite in full communion with the Pope in Rome and is located in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. It is one of the five Christian cathedrals of the city being the others the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Ascension, the Iztapalapa Cathedral, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Valvanera and the Cathedral of San José de Gracia.
It is currently the Mexico City Cathedral of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.
The temple is the main church of the Greek Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Paradise in Mexico City which was created in 1952, and Pope Paul VI gave his approval, to meet the religious needs of the local Melkite Catholic community.
The building was originally a Dominican Catholic church called Porta Coeli Church, founded in 1603. The building was completed in 1711, and is an example of Neoclassical architecture.
It was originally the church of the Dominican College of Porta Coeli, that came to occupy the entire block between the present streets of Carranza, Pino Suárez, Uruguay and the alley of Tabaqueros, the latter separating it from the Concepcionist Convent of Valvanera. Although the college was lost, the church we see today is preserved.
The church housed the beautiful colonial Cristo Negro christ, and from 1935 it was moved to the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral, the church retains an exact replica.
The interior of the church was renovated with eight Byzantine murals painted between 1970-1979, after that was turned into the Melkite Greek Catholic Cathedral.
It is under the pastoral responsibility of Nicholas James Samra who was appointed leader of the Catholics of Melkite Rite by Pope Francis in 2015.
