en Roman Catholic Diocese of Talca

Diocese of Talca

*Dioecesis Talcensis*

Diócesis de Talca
Diocese of Talca; Dioecesis Talcensis; Diócesis de Talca
	Cathedral of St. Augustine
Location
Country	Chile
Ecclesiastical province	Santiago de Chile
Metropolitan	Santiago de Chile
Statistics
Area	17,246 km2 (6,659 sq mi)
Population; - Total; - Catholics	(as of 2014); 641,270; 457,953 (71.4 %%)
Information
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	18 October 1925 (99 years ago)
Cathedral	Cathedral of St Augustine in Talca
Patron saint	St Augustine of Hippo
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Galo Fernández Villaseca
Metropolitan Archbishop	Celestino Aós Braco, OFM Cap
Bishops emeritus	Horacio del Carmen Valenzuela Abarca
Website
	www.diocesisdetalca.cl

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Talca, (in Latin: Dioecesis Talcensis), is a suffragan diocese of the archdiocese of Santiago de Chile. Its current bishop, Galo Fernández Villaseca, was appointed on 20 March 2021.^[2] The diocesan cathedral is in the city of Talca.

History

The dioceses of Talca, of Rancagua and of San Felipe were erected by Pope Pius XI on 18 October 1925 by means of the Bulla "Notabiliter Aucto".^{[citation needed]}

The diocese lies in the Maule Region of Chile and covers a territory of 17,000 km². It is comprised by the province of Curicó and by eight municipalities (comunas) of the province of Talca (the parishes of the municipalities of Empedrado and Constitución are jurisdictionally attached to the neighboring diocese of Linares, from an ecclesiastical point of view). The diocese is divided into 45 parishes (as of April 2015), grouped in 5 pastoral zones.^[1]

Miguel León Prado (apostolic administrator) † (12 June 1913 – 18 October 1925 appointed, auxiliary bishop of Santiago de Chile)
Carlos Silva Cotapos † (14 December 1925 – 21 January 1939 resigned)
Manuel Larraín Errázuriz † (21 January 1939 succeeded – 22 June 1966 died)
Carlos González Cruchaga (4 January 1967 – 12 December 1996 retired)
Horacio del Carmen Valenzuela Abarca (12 December 1996 appointed – 28 June 2018 retired)^[3]
Galo Fernández Villaseca (20 March 2021 appointed – present)

Bernardino Piñera Carvallo (1958-1960), appointed Bishop of Temuco
Enrique Alvear Urrutia (1963-1965), appointed Bishop of San Felipe
Alejandro Jiménez Lafeble (1975-1983), appointed Bishop of Valdivia
Pablo Lizama Riquelme (1988-1991), appointed Bishop of Melipilla
Alejandro Goić Karmelić (1991-1994), appointed Bishop of Osorno