GOZO. – Island, city, and diocese in the Maltese islands. It has an area of 84 sq. km. and a population of 29,787, all Catholics; 14 parishes, with 144 diocesan priests and 28 religious priests, one seminary, 4 male and 13 female religious communities (1949).
On 16 March 1863, Pope Pius IX raised Msgr. F. M. Butigieg to titular bishop of Lita, appointing him auxiliary to the archbishop-bishop of Malta; on 22 September 1864 he promoted G. to a diocese and made the church of the Assumption its cathedral, erected by Lorenzo Gata between 1697 and 1703. A much-venerated shrine is that of the Blessed Virgin « ta Pinu ».
BIBL.: A. Vella, s. V. in Cath. Enc., VI, pp. 687–88. Enrico Josi