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 praemunitia*, nearly a century after the Portuguese discovery (1419). The first bishop was Diogo Pinheiro.
Leo X elevated it to the dignity of a metropolitan see on 31 January 1533, but it was practically only the brief *Romanus Pontifex* of Paul III, during the archbishopric of Martinho de Portugal, that determined the boundaries of the new ecclesiastical province, which included 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. and 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 and 27 female religious communities.