Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Buenos Aires


The Archdiocese of Buenos Aires is one of thirteen Latin Metropolitan archdioceses of the Catholic Church in Argentina, South America.
The Archbishopric of Buenos Aires is the Primatial see of Argentina, although the incumbent Metropolitan may be outranked by Cardinals or more senior ones. On 13 March 2013, then-Archbishop Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as Pope, under the name of Francis. The current archbishop, since 28 March 2013, is Mario Aurelio Poli, appointed by Pope Francis to succeed him as Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Statistics and extent

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was the second largest Catholic city in the world after Paris. In 2014 the Archdiocese pastorally served 2,721,000 Catholics in an area of 205 km2 in 186 parishes and 183 missions with 783 priests, 11 deacons, 1,915 lay religious and 53 seminarians. It is divided into the four zonal vicaries—Flores, Devoto, Belgrano and Centro—which are further subdivided into 20 deaconates.

Special churches

The archdiocese has eleven suffragan sees, of which nine are Latin:
It also has two Eastern Catholic suffragans :

Episcopal ordinaries

;Bishops of Buenos Aires
  1. Pedro Carranza Salinas, O.Carm.
  2. Cristóbal de Aresti Martínez de Aguilar, O.S.B.
  3. Cristóbal de la Mancha y Velazco, O.P.
  4. Antonio de Azcona Imberto
  5. Gabriel de Arregui, O.F.M., appointed Bishop of Cuzco
  6. Pedro de Fajardo, O.SS.T.
  7. Juan de Arregui, O.F.M.
  8. José de Peralta Barrionuevo y Rocha Benavídez, O.P., appointed Bishop of La Paz
  9. Cayetano Marcellano y Agramont, appointed Bishop of Trujillo and later Archbishop of La Plata
  10. José Antonio Basurco y Herrera
  11. Manuel Antonio de la Torre
  12. Sebastián Malvar y Pinto, O.F.M., appointed Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela
  13. Manuel Azamor y Ramírez
  14. Pedro Inocencio Bejarano, appointed Bishop of Sigüenza
  15. Benito Lué y Riega
  16. Mariano Medrano y Cabrera
;Archbishops of Buenos Aires
  1. Mariano José de Escalada Bustillo y Zeballos
  2. Federico León Aneiros
  3. Uladislao Castellano
  4. Mariano Antonio Espinosa
  5. José María Bottaro y Hers, O.F.M.
  6. Cardinal Santiago Copello, appointed Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church
  7. Fermín Emilio Lafitte
  8. Cardinal Antonio Caggiano
  9. Cardinal Juan Carlos Aramburu
  10. Cardinal Antonio Quarracino
  11. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., elected Pope Francis
  12. Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli

    Coadjutor archbishops