TEHUANTEPEC, DIOCESI di. - City and diocese in the State of Oaxaca (Mexico).
It has an area of 60,000 sq. km., with a population of 550,000 inhabitants, of whom 520,000 are Catholics; it has 32 parishes served by 20 diocesan and 5 regular priests; it has 2 male and 6 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 419).
On 24 Apr. 1522 Fr. Bartolomeo de Olmedo arrived at T. with Pedro de Alvarado and was received by the monarch Cosijopii, who converted to the Catholic faith and, after some years, founded the convent of S. Domingo in the capital. The first priests to settle in T. were Fr. Gregorio Beteta and Fr. Bernardo de Albuquerque. After some years the descendants of King Cosijopii sought to restore paganism, but were discovered. In 1535 the diocese of Oaxaca was erected, including also the territory of T. In 1891 Pope Leo XIII created the diocese of T., separating it from Oaxaca. The diocese is suffragan to Vera Cruz.