LINARES, DIOCESI of. – Diocese and capital city of the eponymous province in Chile.
The diocese, now covering an area of 12,380 sq. km, has 161,371 inhabitants, of whom 160,000 are Catholics, distributed among 14 parishes, served by 23 diocesan priests and 25 religious priests; one seminary, 8 male and 14 female religious communities (Annuario Pontificio, 1951, p. 248).
It was created by Pius XI through the apostolic constitution Notabiliter aucto of 18 October 1925, by division from the diocese of the Most Holy Conception of the civil province of L.; the parish church dedicated to St Ambrose was raised to cathedral dignity. It is a suffragan of Santiago del Cile.
BIBL.: AAS, 18 (1925), pp. 205–207. Enrico Josi