| Jurisdiction: | Archdiocese |
| San Salvador | |
| Latin: | Archidiœcesis Sancti Salvatoris in America |
| Local: | Spanish; Castilian: Arquidócesis de San Salvador |
| Country: | El Salvador |
| Province: | San Salvador |
| Metropolitan: | Metropolitan Area of San Salvador |
| Headquarters: | San Salvador City |
| Area Km2: | 3,295 |
| Population: | 3,137,000 |
| Population As Of: | 2014 |
| Catholics: | 2,322,000 |
| Catholics Percent: | 74.02 |
| Parishes: | 162 |
| Priests: | 158 |
| Congregations: | 354 |
| Members: | 1,826 |
| Denomination: | Catholic Church |
| Sui Iuris Church: | Latin Church |
| Rite: | Roman Rite |
| Established: | 28 September 1842 as Diocese of San Salvador |
| Cathedral: | Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador (Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Savior) |
| Language: | Spanish and Latin |
| Metro Archbishop: | José Luis Escobar Alas |
| Map: | El Salvador - Arcidiocesi di San Salvador.jpg |
| Map Size: | 250px |
| 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 (Spanish; Castilian: Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador). The city also has a former cathedral, now the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (es|Basílica del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús), and a minor basilica dedicated to the Virgin of Guadelupe, the Spanish; Castilian: 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.
, it pastorally served 2,322,000 Catholics (74.0% of 3,137,000 total) on 3,295 km2 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.
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.
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 a 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.
In November 2015, sex abuse scandals in the Archdiocese of San Salvador became public[1] when the archdiocese's third highest ranking priest, Jesus Delgado, who was also the biographer and personal secretary of the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero[2] 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.[3] [4] [5] 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.[6] Another El Salvador priest was laicized in 2019 after pleading guilty to sex abuse in a Vatican trial and is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted in a criminal trial.
The ecclesiastical province of San Salvador comprises the whole country, consisting of the Metropolitan's archbishopric and the following suffragan sees:
| Bishop | Term start | Term end | Appointed by | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | José Jorge de Viteri y Ungo (1802–1853) | 1843 | 1849 | Gregory XVI | [7] | |
| 2 | Tomas Miguel Pineda y Saldaña (1791–1875) | 1853 | 1875 | Pius IX | [8] | |
| 3 | José Luis Cárcamo y Rodríguez (1836–1885) | 1875 | 1885 | [9] | ||
| 4 | Antonio Adolfo Pérez y Aguilar (1839–1926) | 1888 | 1913 | Leo XIII | [10] | |
| Archbishop | Term start | Term end | Appointed by | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Antonio Adolfo Pérez y Aguilar (1839–1926) | 1913 | 1926 | Pius X | ||
| 5 | José Alfonso Belloso y Sánchez (1873–1938) | 1927 | 1938 | Pius XI | [11] | |
| 6 | Luis Chávez y González (1901–1987) | 1938 | 1977 | [12] | ||
| 7 | Saint Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (1917–1980) | 1977 | 1980 | Paul VI | [13] | |
| 8 | Arturo Rivera y Damas S.D.B. (1923–1994) | 1983 | 1994 | John Paul II | [14] | |
| 9 | Fernando Sáenz Lacalle (1932–2022) | 1995 | 2008 | [15] | ||
| 10 | José Luis Escobar Alas (1959–) | 2008 | Incumbent | Benedict XVI | [16] | |