Archbishop of Liverpool

For the Church of England Bishop, see Bishop of Liverpool.

Archbishop of Liverpool
Archbishopric
catholic
Incumbent: Sede Vacante
Location
Ecclesiastical province	Province of Liverpool
Information
First holder	George Hilary Brown as Bishop of Liverpool
Formation	Bishopric in 1850 Archbishopric in 1911
Diocese	Archdiocese of Liverpool
Cathedral	Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool
Website
Archbishop of Liverpool

The Archbishop of Liverpool heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool in England. As such he is the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of Liverpool, known also on occasion as the Northern Province. The seat was previously in sede vacante following the resignation of Archbishop Patrick Kelly which was approved by Pope Benedict XVI on 27 February 2013. The Holy See has since appointed Bishop Thomas Williams, Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool as Apostolic Administrator during this period.

On 21 March 2014 Pope Francis appointed Malcolm McMahon as the ninth Archbishop of Liverpool.

History

With the gradual abolition of the legal restrictions on the activities of Catholics in England and Wales in the early 19th century, Rome decided to proceed to bridge the gap of the centuries from Queen Elizabeth I by instituting Catholic dioceses on the regular historical pattern. Thus Pope Pius IX issued the Bull Universalis Ecclesiae of 29 September 1850 by which thirteen new dioceses which did not formally claim any continuity with the pre-Elizabethan English dioceses were created, though it is largely seen as a de facto continuation of the Pre-Reformation See of York, just as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster is seen as a continuation of the Pre-Reformation See of Canterbury.

One of these was the diocese of Liverpool. At its creation it comprised the hundreds of West Derby, Leyland, Lonsdale and Amounderness in Lancashire, plus the Isle of Man.

In the early period from 1850 the diocese was a suffragan of the Metropolitan See of Westminster, but a further development was the creation under Pope Pius X, on 28 October 1911, of a new Province of Liverpool.

Location

Liverpool Archdiocese pilgrimage badge

The archdiocese covers an area of 1,165 km² (450 sq. mi.) of the west of the County of Lancashire south of the Ribble, parts of Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, the historic Hundreds of West Derby and Leyland and the Isle of Man. The see is in the City of Liverpool, where the Archbishop's cathedra or seat is located in the Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Christ the King, which was dedicated on 14 May 1967.

The Archbishop's residence is Archbishop's House, Carnatic Road, Liverpool.

The Archbishop was His Grace the Most Reverend Patrick Altham Kelly, MKHS, STL, PhL, the 11th Bishop and 8th Metropolitan Archbishop of Liverpool, until his resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on 27 February 2013.

Archbishop Kelly was supported by Auxiliary Bishop The Right Reverend Thomas Anthony Williams. The Right Reverend Vincent Malone retired in October 2006.

List of Ordinaries of Liverpool

Roman Catholic Bishops of Liverpool

Roman Catholic Bishops of Liverpool
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1850	1856	George Hilary Brown	Previously Vicar Apostolic of the Lancashire District (1840–1850). Appointed the first Bishop of Liverpool on 29 September 1850. Died in office on 25 January 1856.
1856	1872	Alexander Goss	Appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Liverpool and Titular Bishop of Gerrha on 29 July 1853 and consecrated on 25 September 1853. Succeeded Bishop of Liverpool on 25 January 1856. Died in office on 3 October 1872.
1873	1894	Bernard O'Reilly	Appointed bishop on 28 February 1873 and consecrated on 19 March 1873. Died in office on 9 April 1894.
1894	1911	Thomas Whiteside	Appointed bishop on 12 July 1894 and consecrated on 15 August 1894. Elevated from bishop to archbishop on 28 October 1911.

Roman Catholic Archbishops of Liverpool

Roman Catholic Archbishops of Liverpool
From	Until	Incumbent	Notes
1911	1921	Thomas Whiteside	Elevated from bishop to archbishop on 28 October 1911. Died in office on 28 January 1921.
1921	1928	Frederick William Keating	Previously Bishop of Northampton (1908–1921). Appointed Archbishop of Liverpool on 13 June 1921. Died in office on 7 February 1928.
1928	1953	Richard Downey	Appointed archbishop on 3 August 1928 and consecrated on 21 September 1928. Died in office on 16 June 1953.
1953	1956	William Godfrey	Previously Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain and Chargé d'affaires to the Polish government-in-exile. Appointed Archbishop of Liverpool on 10 November 1953. Translated to the archbishopric of Westminster on 3 December 1956.
1957	1963	John Carmel Heenan	Previously Bishop of Leeds (1951–1957). Appointed Archbishop of Liverpool on 2 May 1957. Translated to the archbishopric of Westminster on 2 September 1963.
1964	1976	George Andrew Beck, A.A.	Previously Bishop of Salford (1955–1964). Appointed Archbishop of Liverpool on 29 January 1964. Resigned on 7 February 1976 and died on 13 September 1978.
1976	1996	Derek John Harford Worlock	Previously Bishop of Portsmouth (1965–1976). Appointed Archbishop of Liverpool on 7 February 1976. Died in office on 6 February 1996.
1996	2013	Patrick Altham Kelly	Previously Bishop of Salford (1984–1996). Appointed Archbishop of Liverpool on 21 May 1996. Resigned 27 February 2013.
2014	Present	Malcolm McMahon	Previously Bishop of Nottingham (2000–2014). Announced 21st March 2014. Enthroned 01st May 2014.

Bibliography

• Brady, W. Maziere (1876). The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland and Ireland, A.D. 1400 to 1875. Vol. Volume 3. Rome: Tipografia Della Pace. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)