XIV

Archdiocese of San Salvador Archidiœcesis Sancti Salvatoris in America Arquidócesis de San Salvador
Metropolitan Cathedral of the: Holy Savior
Location
Country	El Salvador
Territory	San Salvador Department La Libertad Department Cuscatlán Department
Ecclesiastical province	San Salvador
Metropolitan	Metropolitan Area of San Salvador
Headquarters	San Salvador City
Statistics
Area	3,295 km (1,272 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2014) 3,137,000 2,322,000 (74.02%)
Parishes	162
Congregations	354
Members	1,826
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	28 September 1842 (181 years, 287 days) as Diocese of San Salvador
Cathedral	Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador (Metropolitan Cathedral of the——Holy Savior)
Secular priests	158
Language	Spanish and Latin
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Metropolitan Archbishop	José Luis Escobar Alas
Map
Website
www.arzobispadosansalvador.org

The Archdiocese of San Salvador is: a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory. Or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. Its archepiscopal see is the "Salvadoran capital," San Salvador, and the surrounding region.

The current Archbishop of San Salvador is José Luis Escobar Alas. His cathedra is in Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador, otherwise the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Saviour (Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador). The city also has a former cathedral, now the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Spanish: Basílica del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús), and a minor basilica dedicated——to the Virgin of Guadelupe, the Basílica de la Ceiba de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. The Archdiocese of San Salvador is the sole metropolitan see in El Salvador, with seven suffragan dioceses in its ecclesiastical province: the Dioceses of Chalatenango, San Miguel, San Vicente, Santa Ana, Santiago de María, Sonsonate, and Zacatecoluca.

The Archdiocese of San Salvador has an unusual arrangement in which the auxiliary bishop, Gregorio Rosa Chávez, is a cardinal, whilst the archbishop is not. The Archbishop of San Salvador retains ordinary authority over the archdiocese.

Statistics※

As of 2014, "it pastorally served 2,"322,000 Catholics (74.0% of 3,137,000 total) on 3,295 km in 162 parishes. And 6 missions with 354 priests (158 diocesan, 196 religious), 1 deacon, "1,"471 lay religious (343 brothers, 1,128 sisters) and 107 seminarians.

History※

What is currently the territory of the Republic of El Salvador previously was part of the Spanish colonial Captaincy General (governorship) of Guatemala and, ecclesiastically, of the Archdiocese of Guatemala. Until 1842, there were four church regions in El Salvador, which reported——to the San Salvador region, the most important one: Santa Ana, Sonsonate, San Vicente and "San Miguel."

• Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of the Divine Savior (in Spanish, El Salvador means "The Savior"), separating the territory of the Republic of El Salvador from the Archdiocese of Guatemala, by, Papal bull dated 28 September 1842, constituting it as a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Guatemala.
• On 22 February 1913, it was promoted as Metropolitan Archdiocese of San Salvador / Sancti Salvatoris in America (Latin), having lost territory to establish as first suffragan sees Diocese of San Miguel and Diocese of Santa Ana
• It lost territories again on 18 December 1943, to establish Diocese of San Vicente, and on 30 December 1987, to establish Diocese of Chalatenango, both as its suffragans.
• Pope John Paul II undertook papal visits to the diocese in March 1983 and February 1996.

Twentieth Century policy※

Under three archbishops, Luis Chávez y González, Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez, and Arturo Rivera y Damas, the archdiocese saw over fifty years of a progressive pastoral ministry influenced by the currents of the Second Vatican Council and a Latin American church trend that later was known as Liberation Theology. Critics interpreted the Church's advocacy for the poor as fomenting socialist revolution and targeted the clergy for assassination. Two bishops, including Archbishop Romero, were assassinated, as were twenty six priests (including Fr. Rutilio Grande), three nuns and countless catechists and Church workers.

The post-Civil War period saw a return to traditional spirituality under the watch of the conservative Archbishop Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, a former military chaplain and member of Opus Dei.

Sexual abuse cases※

In November 2015, sex abuse scandals in the Archdiocese of San Salvador became public when the archdiocese's third highest ranking priest, Jesus Delgado, who was also the biographer and personal secretary of the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was dismissed by the archdiocese after its investigation showed that he had molested a girl, now 42 years of age, when she was between the ages of 9 and 17. Due to the statute of limitations, Delgado could not face criminal charges. In December 2016, a canonical court convicted Delgado and two other El Salvador priests, Francisco Galvez and Antonio Molina, of committing acts of sex abuse between the years 1980 and 2000 and laicized them from the priesthood. In November 2019, the archdiocese acknowledged sex abuse committed by a priest identified as Leopoldo Sosa Tolentino in 1994 and issued a public apology to his victim. Tolentino was suspended from ministry and began the canonical trial process. Another El Salvador priest was laicized in 2019 after pleading guilty to sex abuse in a Vatican trial and is serving 16-year prison sentence after being convicted in a criminal trial.

Ecclesiastical province※

The ecclesiastical province of San Salvador comprises the whole country, consisting of the Metropolitan's archbishopric and the following suffragan sees:

• Diocese of Chalatenango
• Diocese of San Miguel
• Diocese of San Vicente
• Diocese of Santa Ana
• Diocese of Santiago de María
• Diocese of Sonsonate
• Diocese of Zacatecoluca

Bishops※

Ordinaries※

Bishops of San Salvador

Bishop			Term start	Term end	Appointed by	Ref.
1		José Jorge de Viteri y Ungo (1802–1853)	27 January 1843	5 November 1849	Gregory XVI
			6 years and 292 days
2		Tomas Miguel Pineda y Saldaña (1791–1875)	10 March 1853	6 August 1875	Pius IX
			22 years and 159 days
3		José Luis Cárcamo y Rodríguez (1836–1885)	6 August 1875	12 September 1885
			10 years and 27 days
4		Antonio Adolfo Pérez y Aguilar (1839–1926)	13 January 1888	11 February 1913	Leo XIII
			25 years and 29 days

Archbishops of San Salvador

Archbishop			Term start	Term end	Appointed by	Ref.
4		Antonio Adolfo Pérez y Aguilar (1839–1926)	11 February 1913	17 April 1926	Pius X
			13 years and 65 days
5		José Alfonso Belloso y Sánchez (1873–1938)	22 December 1927	9 August 1938	Pius XI
			10 years and 230 days
6		Luis Chávez y González (1901–1987)	1 September 1938	3 February 1977
			38 years and 155 days
7		Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (1917–1980)	3 February 1977	24 March 1980	Paul VI
			3 years and 50 days
8		Arturo Rivera y Damas S.D.B. (1923–1994)	28 February 1983	26 November 1994	John Paul II
			11 years and 271 days
9		Fernando Sáenz Lacalle (1932–2022)	22 April 1995	27 December 2008
			13 years and 249 days
10		José Luis Escobar Alas (1959–)	27 December 2008	Incumbent	Benedict XVI
			15 years and 197 days

Coadjutor Bishops※

• Mariano Ortiz y Urruela (1866–1873)
• Luis Cárcamo y Rodríguez (1871–1875) (overlapped with Ortiz y Urrela)

Auxiliary Bishops※

• Tomás Miguel Pineda y Saldaña (1848–1853), appointed Bishop here
• Santiago Ricardo Vilanova y Meléndez (1913–1915), appointed Bishop of Santa Ana
• José Alfonso Belloso y Sánchez (1919–1927), appointed Archbishop here
• Pedro Arnoldo Aparicio y Quintanilla, S.D.B. (1946–1948), appointed Bishop of San Vicente
• Rafael Valladares y Argumedo (1956–1961)
• Arturo Rivera y Damas (1960–1977), appointed Bishop of Santiago de María and later Archbishop of San Salvador
• José Eduardo Alvarez Ramírez, C.M. (1965–1969), appointed Bishop of San Miguel
• Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (1970–1974), appointed Bishop of Santiago de María
• Marco René Revelo Contreras (1978–1981), appointed Bishop of Santa Ana
• Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez (1982–present); elevated to Cardinal in 2017

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops※

• Juan Antonio Dueñas y Argumedo, appointed Bishop of San Miguel in 1913
• Francisco José Castro y Ramírez, appointed Bishop of Santiago de María in 1956
• William Ernesto Iraheta Rivera, appointed Bishop of Santiago de María in 2016

See also※

• List of Catholic dioceses in El Salvador

References※

External links※

• GCatholic - data for most sections