HUARAZ, DIOCESE of. – Diocese and capital city of the province of the same name in Peru (South America).
It has an area of 42,908 sq. km., with 650,000 inhabitants, of whom 645,000 are Catholics; it has 60 parishes, with 53 diocesan and 13 regular priests, 1 seminary, 4 male and 3 female religious communities (1949). The diocese was created by Pope Leo XIII on 8 May 1899; the first bishop was Francisco de Sales Soto. It is a suffragan of Lima.
BIBL.: S. J. Quinn, s. V. in Cath. Enc., VII, p. 506; Enc. Eur. Am., XXVIII, p. 505. Enrico Josi