In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
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👉 Diocese in the context of Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (Latin: Ecclesia Catholica), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The Church consists of 24 sui iuris (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world, each overseen by one or more bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church.
The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor of Saint Peter, upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ. It maintains that it practises the original Christian faith taught by the apostles, preserving the faith infallibly through scripture and sacred tradition as authentically interpreted through the magisterium or teaching office of the church. The Roman Rite and others of the Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic liturgies, and communities and societies such as mendicant orders, enclosed monastic orders, third orders and voluntary charitable lay associations reflect a variety of theological and spiritual emphases in the church.
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: Diocese
- 👉 Diocese in the context of Catholic Church
- Diocese in the context of Bishop (Orthodox Church)
- Diocese in the context of Eparchy
- Diocese in the context of List of Catholic dioceses (structured view)
- Diocese in the context of Bishops in the Catholic Church
- Diocese in the context of Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Malta
Diocese in the context of Bishop (Orthodox Church)
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role or office of the bishop is called episcopacy or the episcopate. Organisationally, several Christian denominations utilise ecclesiastical structures that call for the position of bishops, while other denominations have dispensed with this office, seeing it as a symbol of power. Bishops have also exercised political authority within their dioceses.
Traditionally, bishops claim apostolic succession and the historic episcopacy, a direct historical lineage dating back to the original Twelve Apostles or Saint Paul. The bishops are by doctrine understood as those who possess the full priesthood given by Jesus Christ, and therefore may ordain other clergy, including other bishops. A person ordained as a deacon, priest (i.e. presbyter), and then bishop is understood to hold the fullness of the ministerial priesthood, given responsibility by Christ to govern, teach and sanctify the Body of Christ (the Christian Church). Priests, deacons and lay ministers co-operate and assist their bishops in pastoral ministry.
Diocese in the context of Eparchy
Eparchy (Greek: ἐπαρχία eparchía "overlordship") is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. An eparchy is governed by an eparch, who is a bishop. Depending on the administrative structure of a specific Eastern Church, an eparchy can belong to an ecclesiastical province (usually a metropolis), but it can also be exempt. Each eparchy is divided into parishes, in the same manner as a diocese in Western Churches. Historical development of eparchies in various Eastern Churches was marked by local distinctions that can be observed in modern ecclesiastical practices of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches.
Diocese in the context of List of Catholic dioceses (structured view)
As of June 21, 2024, the Catholic Church comprises 3,172 ecclesiastical jurisdictions worldwide, including over 652 archdioceses and 2,250 dioceses. It also includes various other jurisdictions such as apostolic vicariates, apostolic exarchates, apostolic administrations, apostolic prefectures, military ordinariates, personal ordinariates, personal prelatures, territorial prelatures, territorial abbacies, and missions sui juris.
In addition, there are 2,100 titular sees, encompassing bishoprics, archbishoprics, and metropolitanates.
Diocese in the context of Bishops in the Catholic Church
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders and is responsible for teaching doctrine, governing Catholics in his jurisdiction, sanctifying the world and representing the church. Catholics trace the origins of the office of bishop to the apostles, who it is believed were endowed with a special charism and office by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Catholics believe this special charism and office has been transmitted through an unbroken succession of bishops by the laying on of hands in the sacrament of holy orders.
Diocesan bishops—known as eparchial bishops in the Eastern Catholic Churches—are assigned to govern local regions within the Catholic Church known as dioceses in the Latin Church and eparchies in the Eastern Churches. Bishops are collectively known as the College of Bishops and can hold such additional titles as archbishop, cardinal, patriarch, or pope. As of 2020, there were approximately 5,600 living bishops total in the Latin and Eastern churches of the Catholic Church.
Diocese in the context of Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Malta
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy (and Malta from 2005 until the creation of the Exarchate of Malta in 2021), officially the Sacred Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Exarchate of Southern Europe (Italian: Sacra Arcidiocesi Ortodossa d'Italia ed Esarcato per l'Europa Meridionale), is a diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople with its see in Venice. The diocese was created in 1991.
The current archbishop and exarch is Polykarpos Stavropoulos.