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List of Catholic dioceses in France

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The Catholic Church in France mainly comprises a Metropolitan Latin Church hierarchy, joint in a national episcopal conference, consisting of

  • fifteen ecclesiastical provinces, each under a Metropolitan Archdioceses (15)
    • with a total of 80 suffragans: seven non-Metropolitan Archdioceses, 72 bishoprics and a Territorial Prelature
  • two exempt non-Metropolitan Archdioceses
  • the (exempt) Military Ordinariate.

Furthermore, it has four exempt Eastern Catholic jurisdictions : three rite-specific (of which two are transnational) and a national Ordinariate for the Faithful of Eastern Rite for all others without rite-proper Ordinary.

The French overseas departments and territories, although administratively and constitutionally part of the French republic, are not part of the French church under canon law but exempt and/or part of an episcopal conference in their respective continent.

There is also an Apostolic Nunciature (as papal diplomatic representation at embassy-level) to France in the national capital Paris. the country also hosts three multilateral Holy See Representations: to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to the Council of Europe in Strasburg and to the International Commission on Civil Status (ICCS).

The following contains the list of the French Catholic Roman Catholic dioceses of France as since 2002. See also the List of Ancien Régime dioceses of France and the List of French dioceses in the 19th and 20th century for information prior to 2002.

Dioceses of metropolitan France. Provinces are demarcated by bold lines and their sees (Metropolitan archdioceses) written in bold letters.

Pope John Paul II completely redrew the map of French ecclesiastical provinces in December 2002, in order to coincide more closely with the map of French administrative regions, but losing in several instances remaining boundaries surviving from late Roman times. This meant the creation of a few new Metropolitan archbishoprics and ecclesiastical provinces. This also entailed, for several archbishoprics, the loss of their metropolitan status (symbolised by the wearing of the pallium): their bishops nevertheless retained the title of archbishop.

As a result of history, many former episcopal sees were united, mainly as a consequence of the French Revolution; hence many dioceses bear the names of several cities, in which case, only the first one is the cathedral see where the bishop still actually resides.

In France, most dioceses coincide with a department of France, but there are a few exceptions, where some arrondissements are attached to a diocese outside the department, or form a separate diocese within the department (this happens mainly in departments with numerous populations, such as Nord or Bouches-du-Rhône). Along with the list of the new ecclesiastical provinces and their suffragan dioceses, this list also gives the equivalent of the diocesan jurisdiction in departmental terms.

Current European French Dioceses

Exempt, i.e. directly subject to the Holy See

Exempt Latin

Eastern Catholic (exempt) jurisdictions

Episcopal Conference of ('Metropolitan', European) France

Ecclesiastical Province of Besançon

(Franche-Comté and part of Lorraine)

Ecclesiastical Province of Bordeaux

(Aquitaine)

Ecclesiastical Province of Clermont

(Auvergne)

Ecclesiastical Province of Dijon

(Burgundy)

Ecclesiastical Province of Lille

(Nord-Pas-de-Calais)

Ecclesiastical Province of Lyon

(Rhône-Alpes)

Ecclesiastical Province of Marseille

(Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur and Corsica)

Ecclesiastical Province of Montpellier

(Languedoc-Roussillon)

Ecclesiastical Province of Paris

(Ile-de-France)

Ecclesiastical Province of Poitiers

(Poitou-Charentes and Limousin)

Ecclesiastical Province of Reims

(Champagne-Ardenne and Picardy)

Ecclesiastical Province of Rennes

(Brittany and Pays de la Loire)

Ecclesiastical Province of Rouen

(Upper and Lower Normandy)

Eccleasiastical Province of Toulouse

(Midi-Pyrénées)

Eccleasiastical Province of Tours

(Centre-Val de Loire)

Defunct jurisdictions in European France

Titular sees

There were titular metropolitan sees that were both united with another diocese, such as the Archdiocese of Arles and the Archdiocese of Embrun.

There were also titular episcopal sees, 41 of which were united and 18 were not united with other dioceses, these included: Accia, Agde (united), Aléria, Alès (united), Alet, Apt, Arisitum, Auxerre (united), Avranches (united), Bazas (united), Béziers (united), Boulogne (united), Briançonnet, Carpentras, Castres (united), Cavaillon, Châlon-sur-Saône (united), Condom (united), Couserans (united), Die (united), Dol (united), Entrevaux, Laon (united), Lavaur (united), Lectoure (united), Léon (united), Lescar (united), Lisieux (united), Lodève (united), Lombez (united), Mâcon (united), Maillezais, Mariana en Corse, Mirepoix (united), Nebbio, Noyon (united), Oloron (united), Orange, Rieux (united), Riez (united), Sagone, Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges (united), Saint-Malo (united), Saint-Omer (united), Saint-Papoul, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (united), Saint-Pons-de-Thomières (united), Saint-Quentin (united), Saintes (united), Sarlat (united), Senez, Senlis (united), Sisteron (united), Thérouanne, Toul (united), Tréguier (united), Uzès (united), Vabres (united), and Vaison.

There was the single titular abbacy of Cluny that became united with another diocese.

Other defunct French sees

There were other dioceses that no longer exist and were not united with current active dioceses, these included: Diocese of Aleth, Diocese of Antibes, Diocese of Bethléem à Clamecy (alias Panthenor), Diocese of Bourg-en-Bresse, Diocese of Cimiez, Diocese of Dax (Acqs), Archdiocese of Eauze (Elusa), Diocese of Grasse, Diocese of Javols, Diocese of Limoux, Archdiocese of Narbonne, Diocese of Rezé, Diocese of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Diocese of Sospel, Archdiocese of Tarentaise, Diocese of Toulon, Diocese of Vence, Diocese of Vernay and the Archdiocese of Vienne.

Overseas French dioceses

all Latin (in many cases, in a conference/province(s) with non-French, mainly Anglophone, dioceses)

Exempt, directly subject to the Holy See (Africa)

Episcopal Conference of the Antilles

Ecclesiastical Province of Martinique

(Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana; exclusively Francophone)

Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (Oceania)

Ecclesiastical Province of Papeete

Ecclesiastical Province of Nouméa

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Pope Benedict XVI elevated the Diocese of Lille to a Metropolitan Archdiocese. Cambrai (the former Metropolitan) became its suffragan, while retaining the title "Archdiocese" (see "Daily Bulletin - Elevazione di Lille (Francia) a Chiesa Metropolitana e Nomina del Primo Arcivescovo Metropolita" (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 2008-03-29. Archived from the original on 2008-06-07. Retrieved 2008-03-30.).
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