BABYLON OF THE LATINS. - B. currently constitutes the title of the archbishop of the Latin see (Babilonensis Latinorum), immediately subject to the Holy See, who resides in Baghdad. Initially, it was a simple bishopric, whose episcopal succession begins in 1632, when Urban VIII, acceding to the shah’s request, established a bishopric in the capital Isfahan for the numerous Latin Catholics present in Persia.
Some time later, a pious woman from Meaux, Maria Riconard, donated to the Pope 6,000 Spanish doubloons (about 125,000 contemporary livres) for the creation of a bishopric in infidel lands on the condition that she could present the first incumbent and that his successors would always be French. With the bull *Super universas* of June 6, 1638, Urban VIII assigned this foundation to the bishop of B. or Baghdad, with the obligation of residence for the incumbents, who were all to be of French nationality (R. de Martiris, *Iuris Pontificii de Propaganda Fide*, I, Rome 1888, pp. 174-175). From 1773, a gap appears in the series of incumbents, which reappeared in 1820 following the reorganization of the diocese in 1818.
On September 19, 1848, the diocese, which numbered only a few thousand faithful, was elevated to an archbishopric (v. BAGADIO).