Verapaz (Residencia Cobán), Diocese of

VERA PAZ (residence COBAN), DIOCESE of. — City and diocese in Guatemala (Central America).

It has an area of 14,000 sq km and a population of 394,580 inhabitants, of whom 378,050 are Catholics; it has 11 parishes served by 3 diocesan and 7 religious priests (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 444).

With the apostolic constitution Quoties in regionibus of 14 January 1935, Pope Pius XI suppressed the apostolic vicariate of V. P. and Petén and erected the diocese of V. P., with the episcopal residence at Coban. He accordingly raised the church of Coban, dedicated to St Dominic, to the rank and dignity of a cathedral and established the diocesan Seminary in V. P.