TEMUCO, DIOCESE OF. – A city and diocese in the province of Malleco and part of that of Cautín in Chile (South America).
It covers an area of 19,544 sq. km. with a population of 329,576 inhabitants, of whom 300,000 are Catholic; it comprises 21 parishes served by 16 diocesan priests and 31 regular clergy; it has 12 male and 16 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 420).
The diocese was erected by Pope Pius XI with the apostolic constitution *Notabiliter aucto* of 18 Oct. 1925, by separation from the archdiocese of Concepción, of which it is a suffragan, elevating to the rank and dignity of cathedral the church dedicated to St. Joseph.
BIBL.: AAS, 18 (1926), pp. 205-207.