Diocese of Rome

History

Origins

The best evidence available for the origins of the Church in Rome is Saint Paul's Epistle to the Romans. This indicates that the church was established probably by the early 40s AD. Saint Peter became associated with this church sometime between the year 58 and the early 60s.

According to one historian:

The final years of the first century and the early years of the second constitute the "postapostolic" period, as reflected in the extrabiblical writings of Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch. By now the church at Rome was exercising a pastoral care that extended beyond its own community, having replaced Jerusalem as the practical center of the growing universal Church. Appeals were made to Peter and Paul, with whom the Roman church was most closely identified.

Modern times

On 6 January 2023, by the apostolic constitution In Ecclesiarum Communione, Pope Francis reorganised the diocese to make it more collegial and to reinforce the role of the pope in it.

On 25 February 2026, Pope Leo XIV issued a special pontifical decree, revised In Ecclesiarum Communione and reorganizing the internal territorial boundaries and management of the sectors of the Diocese of Rome.

Territory

The diocese covers a territory of 881 square kilometres (340 sq mi) of which 0.44 square kilometres (0.17 sq mi) is in the Vatican City State and the rest is in Italy. The diocese has 1,219 diocesan priests of its own, while 2,331 priests of other dioceses, 5,072 religious priests and 140 Opus Dei priests reside in its territory, as do 2,266 women religious. In 2004, they ministered to an estimated 2,454,000 faithful, who made up 88% of the population of the territory.

The city of Rome has grown beyond the boundaries of the diocese. Notable parts of the city belong to the dioceses of Ostia and Porto-Santa Rufina. Ostia is administered together with the Vicariate of Rome, and thus included in the statistics given below, while Porto is instead administered by its own diocesan bishop. The diocese covers an area of 849 km² and includes most of the city and the municipality of Rome in Italy, and the entire territory of Vatican City. The Diocese of Rome is divided into two vicariates, each with its respective vicar general.

Two vicars general exercise the episcopal ministry and pastoral government for their respective territories within the Diocese of Rome. Unless the bishop of a diocese reserves some acts to himself, vicars general have by law within a diocese the power to undertake all administrative acts that pertain to the bishop except those that in law require a special mandate of the bishop.

Vicariate of Vatican City

This vicariate has responsibility for the territory of Vatican City. It consists of two parishes: Saint Peter's Basilica and Saint Anne in the Vatican. Its pastoral mission with respect to residents of its territory is minimal. It is primarily concerned with providing appropriate services to tourists, pilgrims, and others in Rome who avail themselves of services provided in Vatican City. Since 1991, the vicar general for Vatican City has been the cardinal who is the archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, currently Cardinal Mauro Gambetti.

Vicariate of Rome

The vicariate general (Vicariatus urbis) for the diocesan territory outside of Vatican City, territory that is under Italian sovereignty, is based at the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, which is the cathedral of the diocese. The vicar general for the Vicariate of Rome has for centuries been called the cardinal vicar (Italian: Cardinale Vicario). The vicariate has 336 active and 5 suppressed parishes in its territory. Since 1970 the vicar of the city of Rome has also been assigned the office of archpriest of the Lateran Archbasilica, where the diocesan curia has its headquarters. From a strictly pastoral point of view, the diocese is divided into five sectors: north, south, east, west, and center. Each sector is assigned an auxiliary bishop who collaborates with the vicar general and the vicegerent in the pastoral administration of the diocese. The five bishops of the sectors can be joined by other auxiliary bishops for specific pastoral areas such as health care ministry.

In January 2023, Pope Francis reorganized the Diocese of Rome, greatly restricting the role of vicar general. He defined the role of each auxiliary bishop and took direct charge of many diocesan decisions. He defined the vicar general's role as a coordinator of the work of diocesan bodies, defined him as an auxiliary, and restricted his sphere of responsibility with the rule that the vicar general "will not undertake important initiatives or ones exceeding ordinary administration without first reporting to me".

Ecclesiastical Province of Rome

Suburbicarian sees

Six of the dioceses of the Roman Province are described as suburbicarian. Each suburbicarian diocese has a cardinal bishop at its titular head.

• Suburbicarian See of Porto-Santa Rufina
• Suburbicarian See of Albano
• Suburbicarian See of Frascati
• Suburbicarian See of Palestrina
• Suburbicarian See of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto
• Suburbicarian See of Velletri-Segni

Diocese of Ostia

There remains the titular Suburbicarian See of Ostia, held, in addition to his previous suburbicarian see, by the cardinal bishop elected Dean of the College of Cardinals. The Diocese of Ostia was merged with the Diocese of Rome in 1962, and is now administered by a vicar general, in tight cooperation with the vicar general for Rome. It was also diminished to contain only the cathedral parish of Ostia, which in 2012 was divided into two parishes.

Suffragan sees

Other Italian dioceses having Rome as their metropolitan see:

• Archdiocese of Gaeta (non-Metropolitan)
• Diocese of Anagni-Alatri
• Diocese of Civita Castellana
• Diocese of Civitavecchia-Tarquinia
• Diocese of Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino
• Diocese of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno
• Diocese of Rieti
• Diocese of Sora-Cassino-Aquino-Pontecorvo
• Diocese of Tivoli
• Diocese of Viterbo
• Territorial Abbey of Montecassino
• Territorial Abbey of Subiaco

Other exempt (directly subject) sees

Numerous ordinaries and personal prelatures outside the province of Rome, worldwide, are "Exempt", i.e. "directly subject to the Holy See", not part of any ecclesiastical province, including:

• Various Latin Church dioceses directly subject to the Holy See, either due to the type of see, such as the missionary pre-diocesan Apostolic prefectures and Apostolic vicariates, (although a few are exceptionally joined to an ecclesiastical province) until their promotion to 'full' bishopric, or wherever the Vatican sees fit not to assign a specific see to a province
• Personal prelatures such as Opus Dei
• Apostolic exarchates, Eastern Catholic pre-diocesan sees
• Ordinariates for Eastern Catholic faithful, Eastern Catholic, where one or more rite-specific churches sui iuris lack any proper jurisdiction
• Personal ordinariates for former Anglicans
• Various military ordinariates for armed forces personnel