It has an area of 79,861 sq. km. with a population of 706,900 inhabitants, of whom 670,500 are Catholic; it comprises 33 parishes served by 60 diocesan priests and 7 regular clergy; it has a seminary, 3 male religious communities and 11 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 415).
The first to preach the Gospel in the region was Fr. André Olmos. In 1530 the Franciscans founded the administration of S. Salvador, which included 12 convents. In 1748 the religious of the Apostolic College of Our Lady of Guadalupe of Zacatecas took charge of the mission. On March 6, 1870, Pius IX erected it as a diocese with the bull *Apostolicum in Universas Orbis Ecclesias*.
The diocese is a suffragan of Monterrey and the bishop resides in Tampico.
BIBL.: ann. s. V. ENOCH. Eur. Ann., LIX, pp. 198-202; C. Crivelli, s. V. in The Cath. Enc., XIV, p. 140. Enrico Josi