It has an area of 14,606 sq. km. with a population of 394,580 inhabitants, of whom 378,650 are Catholic; it comprises 11 parishes served by 3 diocesan priests and 7 regular clergy (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 444).
By 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 its episcopal see at Cobán. He thus raised the church of Cobán, dedicated to St. Dominic, to the rank and dignity of a cathedral and established in V. P. the diocesan seminary.
BIBL.: AAS, 27 (1935), pp. 398 ff.