Archdiocese of the Most Holy Conception
City and archdiocese of Chile, in the provinces of Concepción, Arauco, and Bio-Bío, in South America.
It covers an area of 26,000 sq. km., with a population of 535,000 inhabitants, of whom 530,000 are Catholic; it has 42 parishes served by 63 diocesan priests and 62 regular clergy; it has a seminary, 15 male religious communities, and 30 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 366). The diocese was established by a bull of Pius IV on 22 May 1563; from 1818 to 1832 the see of Concepción was vacant; on 20 May 1939, Pope Pius XII, with the apostolic constitution *Quo provinciarum*, elevated it to a metropolitan see, assigning as its suffragans the dioceses of Chillán, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, San Carlos de Ancud, Temuco, and Valdivia. In the diocese there are many communities of Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, Capuchins, Jesuits, Salesians, Redemptorists, and an equal number of female communities, which run several colleges. There is also the conciliar seminary.