It covers an area of 135 sq. km. and has a population of 57,000 inhabitants, of whom 55,000 are Catholics, distributed among 6 parishes. The diocesan clergy consists of 34 secular priests; it also has 1 seminary, 5 male religious communities and 7 female ones (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 331). The diocese was erected by Pius XII with the apostolic constitution *Ut in amplissimo caelo* on 27 January 1947, transforming the Apostolic Vicariate of Magellan into a diocese and elevating the church of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy to the status of cathedral.
BIBL.: AAS, 39 (1947), pp. 337-339; anon., s.V. ENOCH. Eur. Am., XLVIII, pp. 568-569.