FUNCHAL, Diocese of. - Capital of the Island of Madeira (Portugal), in the Atlantic.

The diocese was erected in 1514 by Leo X, with the bull Pro excellenti proeminentio, almost a century after the Portuguese discovery (1410). The first bishop was Diogo Pinheiro.

Clement VII raised it to the dignity of metropolitan see on 31 Jan. 1533, but in practice only the brief Romani Pontificia of Paul III, at the time of Archbishop Martino de Portugal, determined the limits of the new ecclesiastical province, which comprised all the territories discovered and conquered by the Portuguese.

At present it comprises the Island of Madeira and Porto Santo, with an area of 787 sq km, with 250,124 inhabitants, of whom 247,800 are Catholics, distributed in 50 parishes, served by 107 diocesan priests and 12 regulars; one seminary, 5 male religious communities and 27 female ones.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: Levy Jordao, Bullarium Patrenatus, Lisboa 1868; F. de Almeida, Historia da Igreja em Portugal, Coimbra 1915.

Carmo Da Silva

@incollection{ec5_funchal_diocesi_di, author = {Da, Silva Carmo}, title = {Funchal, diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1807}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/funchal-diocesi-di} }

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Funchal, Diocese of

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