TAMAULIPAS (formerly CIUDAD VICTORIA), DIOCESE of. - City and diocese of the State of the same name in the department of Monterrey (Republic of Mexico).
It has an area of 79,861 sq. km., with a population of 706,900 inhabitants, of whom 670,500 are Catholics; it has 33 parishes served by 60 diocesan and 7 regular priests; it has a seminary, 3 male and 11 female religious communities (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 de Zacatecas assumed the protection of the mission. On 6 March 1870 Pius IX erected it as a diocese by the bull Apostolicum in Universas Orbis Ecclesias.
The diocese is suffragan to Monterrey, and the bishop resides at Tampico.