Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is an ecclesiastical territory or
diocese of the
Roman Catholic Church in the
New England region of the
United States. It is comprised of several counties of the
state of
Massachusetts. It is led by a prelate
archbishop which serves as pastor of the mother church, Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the
City of Boston.
The original Diocese of Boston was canonically erected on April 8, 1808 by
Pope Pius VII. It took its territories from the larger historic Diocese of Baltimore and consisted of the states of
Connecticut,
Maine,
Massachusetts,
New Hampshire,
Rhode Island and
Vermont.
Encyclopedia
The
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is an ecclesiastical territory or
diocese of the
Roman Catholic Church in the
New England region of the
United States. It is comprised of several counties of the
state of
Massachusetts. It is led by a prelate
archbishop which serves as pastor of the mother church, Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the
City of Boston.
The original Diocese of Boston was canonically erected on April 8, 1808 by
Pope Pius VII. It took its territories from the larger historic Diocese of Baltimore and consisted of the states of
Connecticut,
Maine,
Massachusetts,
New Hampshire,
Rhode Island and
Vermont. Throughout the history of the United States and
exponential growth of Catholicism in New England, the Diocese of Boston was carved into smaller new dioceses. On February 12, 1875,
Pope Pius IX elevated the diocese to become an archdiocese.
The archdiocese was the center of the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal that culminated in the resignation of its archbishop,
Bernard Cardinal Law, on December 13, 2002. The Archdiocese settled with most claims for $86 million. For a number of years the Archbishop of Boston was traditionally named a Cardinal.
Pope John Paul II also denied the archdiocese of a new prelate cardinal while Cardinal Law was still in active service in the Roman Curia. That changed on February 22, 2006 when
Pope Benedict XVI announced that current Archbishop
Sean O'Malley will be among 15 bishops and archbishops that will be appointed as cardinals. O'Malley and the others were formally installed in a ceremony in Rome on March 24, 2006.
The following is a list of all bishops and archbishops of Boston, and their term of service:
In June of 2004, much of the land around the archdiocese of Boston headquarters was sold to
Boston College, in part to raise money for legal costs accociated with sex abuse scandal in Boston. , .
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