Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Izmir


The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Izmir is a Latin archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Asian Turkey.
The archdiocese's cathedral motherchurch and thus see of its archbishop is St. John's Cathedral.
It also includes a World Heritage Site: Meryem Ana Evi Meryem Ana Evi, Bülbüldağı.
Lorenzo Piretto, O.P., was appointed Archbishop of İzmir by Pope Francis on 7 December 2015.

History

In 1346 was established a Latin Archdiocese of Smyrna .
In 1575 it was suppressed as residential see but immediately transformed into a Latin titular archbishopric. The title was held by:
In 1625 the residential see was restored, but demoted to missionary pre-diocesan jurisdiction, as the Apostolic Vicariate of Smyrna.
It was promoted to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Izmir by Pope Pius VII on 18 March 1818, though it lacked the suffragan sees that normally constitute the ecclesiastical province under a metropolitan archdiocese.
On 12 September 1896 it gained territory from the suppressed Apostolic Prefecture of Trabzon, on 20 July 1931 it lost territory to the Diocese of Chios.
It has been visited by Pope Paul VI in July 1967, Pope John Paul II in November 1979, and Pope Benedict XVI in November 2006.

Ordinaries

Crusader age

;Archbishops of Smyrna
; Apostolic Vicars of Smyrna
; Metropolitan Archbishops of Izmir