Roman Catholic Diocese of Ponce

Diocese of Ponce Dioecesis Poncensis Diócesis de Ponce
Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Location
Country	United States
Territory	Southern portion of the island of Puerto Rico
Ecclesiastical province	Province of San Juan de Puerto Rico
Metropolitan	Ponce, Puerto Rico
Population - Catholics	(as of 2004[citation needed]) 474,959[citation needed] (80[citation needed]%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	21 November 1924 (87 years ago)
Cathedral	Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
Current leadership
Pope	Benedict XVI
Archbishop	Félix Lázaro Martinez
Metropolitan Archbishop	Roberto González Nieves, O.F.M. Archbishop of San Juan de Puerto Rico
Map

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ponce is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and consists of the southern part of the island of Puerto Rico, an American commonwealth. The diocese is led by a prelate bishop which pastors the motherchurch in the City of Ponce, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Its current bishop is S.E.R. Mons. Félix Lázaro Martinez, Sch. P.

The See of Ponce was canonically erected on 21 November 1924 and is a suffragan diocese of the Metropolitan Province of San Juan de Puerto Rico.

Bishops of Ponce

The following were bishops of Ponce. These are only the ecclesiastical bishops; emeritus bishops are not included here:^[1]

• Edwin Byrne (1925-1929)
• Aloysius Joseph Willinger (1929-1946)
• James Edward McManus (1947-1963)
• Luis Aponte Martinez (20 Feb 1964 - 4 Nov 1964)
• Juan Fremiot Torres Oliver (1964-2000)
• Ricardo Antonio Suriñach Carreras (2000-2003)
• Félix Lázaro Martinez (2003-incumbent)

See also

• Roman Catholic Marian churches
• List of the Catholic bishops of the United States#Province of San Juan de Puerto Rico

References

1. ^ Diocesis of Ponce Via: Directorio Diocesano > Episcopologio Ponceño > Diócesis de Ponce. Retrieved February 16, 2011.

Resources

• Catholic Hierarchy Profile of the Diocese of Ponce