PUEBLO, DIOCESI di. - Diocese and city in the State of Colorado (U.S.A.).
The diocese has an area of 51,289 square miles, with a total population of 388,017 inhabitants, of whom 89,397 are Catholics. There are 117 priests (57 of whom are religious belonging to 5 different congregations: Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Theatines, Benedictines, Sons of the Holy Family, Jesuits) in 46 parishes, 31 chapels, 18 missions, and 92 stations. There are also 12 congregations of women, a seminary, 1 Benedictine scholasticate, 1 college, 1 orphanage, and 10 hospitals.
In 1539 the Franciscan Marcos de Niza penetrated the territory of the Pueblo indigenous tribe, but the first whites to settle there were some Spaniards who arrived in New Mexico, the southern part of Colorado, in 1852. The first church dates from 1858. The diocese was erected by Pius XII on 15 Nov. 1941 (AAS, 34 [1942], pp. 192-94) by the apostolic constitution Ecclesiarum in catholico orbe (ibid., pp. 190-92).
