Diocese

In some Christian churches, the diocese is an administrative territorial unit governed by a bishop, sometimes also referred to as a bishopric or episcopal see, though more often the term episcopal see means the office held by the bishop. In the Roman Catholic Church, an important diocese, governed by an Archbishop is called an archdiocese (usually due to size, historical significance, or both). As of 2003, there are about 569 Roman Catholic archdioceses and 2014 dioceses in the world.

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Some Protestant churches such as the Church of England have inherited this diocesan structure directly, during the Protestant Reformation.

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In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated in a larger unit, the diocese. (Latin dioecesis, from a Greek term meaning "administration").

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The Catholic Church directly inherited this Roman structure of authority during the 5th and 6th centuries, as each bishop fully assumed the role of the former Roman praefectus. The transfer was facilitated by the Christian practice of setting the areas of ecclesiastical administration very exactly coinciding with those of the civil administration: in modern times, many an ancient diocese, though later divided among several dioceses, has preserved the boundaries of a long-vanished Roman administrative division. See further information concerning bishops in civil government at the entry Bishop.

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Bishop: A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who, in certain Christian churches, holds a position of authority....

Episcopal see: An episcopal see is the office of the chief bishop of a particular church. See comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning seat, which refers to the episcopal throne (cathedra) located in the bishop's church (cathedral) in which the bishop sits as the principal symbol of his office. See is still used...

Roman Catholic Church: The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest organizational body of Christians. Its membership is over one billion. 1,085,557,000 is the figure, rounded to the nearest thousand, given in the 2003 Statistical Yearbook of the Church, page 43. Because of obstacles to reg...