CAMPECHE, Diocese of. — In the Republic of Mexico, erected by Leo XIII on 2 Dec. 1895 with the constitution *Praedecessorum nostrorum*, by separating it from the Diocese of Yucatán, of which it is now a suffragan. To date, it has been governed by 7 bishops.
It comprises the State of Campeche and a large part of the federal territory of Quintana Roo, with an area of 71,000 sq. km and a population of 110,000 inhabitants (half of whom are Indians and the other half whites or mestizos); about 90,000 are Catholics.
The diocese has 67 churches and is divided into 19 parishes, served by 16 diocesan priests and 3 regulars (1948). The scarcity of clergy is due in part to the recent religious persecutions during which the seminary and Catholic schools were closed.
The episcopal see is Campeche, formerly San Francisco de Campeche, founded by Francisco de Montejo in 1540. Soon after the city’s foundation, construction began on the first church, Santa María de la Concepción, now the cathedral, an imposing and massive structure like a fortress. The first missionaries in the region were the Franciscans, alongside whom the Jesuits also worked from 1572. Notable shrines include those of Our Lady of Hool and Saint Roma.
CAMPEGGI, FAMILY. — LORENZO, cardinal, b. at Bologna in 1474, d. at Rome on 19 July 1539. He taught law at Bologna, where he married and had children. After being widowed in 1510, he entered the Roman Curia as an auditor of the Rota in 1511. Already on 12 Nov. 1512 he was named bishop of Feltre, a see he held until 1520. In 1514 Leo X sent him to Germany; then on 1 July 1517 he was created cardinal. In 1518 he was sent for the first time as legate to England, returning the following year. On 2 Dec. he received the see of Bologna, which he held until 1525. Meanwhile, as the religious revolution in Germany spread, Clement VII sent him there as legate on 8 Jan. 1524 to attend the Diet of Nuremberg, where he met with stubborn resistance from princes favourable to Luther. He gathered Catholic princes at Regensburg, succeeded in forming a Catholic league in July, and worked strenuously in the autumn and winter to restore the fortunes of Catholicism. He returned to Rome in Oct. 1525. Meanwhile he had been given in commendam the see of Salisbury in England (2 Dec. 1524), and when Henry VIII revealed his intention to divorce Catherine of Aragon, Clement VII on 8 June 1528 appointed him his legate, together with Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, to investigate this difficult case and judge it according to justice. It then seemed advisable to prolong proceedings in the hope that the king might change his mind. The legate, having arrived in London on 8 Oct., began a regular process in the following May; but the queen produced the legal dispensation of Julius II for her marriage to the king and appealed directly to the Pope. Clement VII then took the case to himself, and the process was suspended on 23 July; in September Campeggi left England. He subsequently lost his see of Salisbury.
When Charles V convened a new diet at Augsburg to deal with the religious disturbances in Germany, Clement VII on 9 March 1530 designated Campeggi as his legate at the emperor’s side, entrusting him with special instructions. At that diet the Augsburg Confession was proposed, which became the profession of faith of the Lutherans; Charles V saw his efforts for religious union frustrated and became convinced that only a council could put an end to the doctrinal strife.
Campeggi successively held in commendam the sees of Huesca in Spain (Sept. 1530–32), Parenzo in Istria (June 1533–37), and the archbishopric of Crete (June 1534–Jan. 1536). On 20 March 1538 Paul III appointed him legate together with Cardinals Simonetta and