VILLARRICA, DIOCESI of. — City and diocese in the Republic of Paraguay (South America).
The territory extends over 78,049 sq km, with a population of 620,000 Catholics, distributed among 75 parishes served by 34 diocesan priests and 25 religious priests; it has a seminary, 6 male and 7 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 448). The diocese of V. was created by Pius XI on 1 May 1929 through the apostolic constitution Universi gregis Dominici, establishing the ecclesiastical province of Asunción and separating it from Buenos Aires (AAS, 22 [1930], pp. 5–7). The diocese is suffragan to S.ma Assunzione.