Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh Archidioecesis Sancti Andreae et Edimburgensis | |
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 Coat of arms | |
| Location | |
| Country |  Scotland |
| Territory | City of Edinburgh and the council areas of Clackmannanshire, part of Fife, Falkirk, West, Mid and East Lothian, and the Scottish Borders |
| Ecclesiastical province | St Andrews & Edinburgh |
| Coordinates | 56°11′20″N 3°37′52″W / 56.189°N 3.631°W |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 5,504 km2 (2,125 sq mi) |
| Population - Total - Catholics | (as of 2020) 1,595,000 122,280 (7.7%) |
| Parishes | 109 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 4 March 1878 |
| Cathedral | St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh |
| Secular priests | 76 |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Archbishop | Leo Cushley |
| Vicar General | Patrick Burke [1] Allan Chambers |
| Map | |
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| Website | |
| Official website | |
The Archdiocese of Saint Andrews & Edinburgh (Latin: Archidioecesis Sancti Andreae et Edimburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Scotland. It is the metropolitan see of the province of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, consisting of the additional suffragan sees of Aberdeen, Argyll and the Isles, Dunkeld, and Galloway. The archdiocese is led by Archbishop Leo Cushley, and its cathedral is St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh.[2]
After the Scottish Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church abandoned the ancient dioceses and hierarchy. In 1653, the whole of Scotland became under the authority the Prefecture Apostolic of Scotland, which in 1694 was elevated to the Vicariate Apostolic of Scotland.[3]
On 23 July 1727, Scotland was divided into two Vicariates Apostolic, the Lowland District and Highland District. The Lowland District comprised roughly the Scottish Lowlands.[3]
On 13 February 1827, Scotland was divided again into three Vicariate Apostolics, the Eastern District (formerly the Lowland District), the Northern District (formerly the Highland District), and the Western District (created from territory of the other two districts).[3]
The Eastern District comprised the sixteen eastern historic counties of Perthshire, Angus, Kincardineshire, Stirlingshire, Clackmannanshire, Kinross, Fife, West Lothian, Mid Lothian, East Lothian, Peebleshire, Selkirkshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfrieshire, Roxburghshire, and Berwickshire.
Following the restoration of the Scottish hierarchy by Pope Leo XIII on 15 March 1878, part of the Eastern District was elevated to the status of an archdiocese with the title St Andrews & Edinburgh.[3]
In Lent 2015, Archbishop Cushley outlined his vision for the future of the archdiocese in a pastoral letter entitled "We Have Found the Messiah". The document stated aim was to "respond to the mission entrusted to him [Archbishop Cushley] by Pope Francis: to bring the joy of the Gospel to contemporary society."
Following the publication of the letter, Archbishop Cushley embarked upon 32 public meetings across the Archdiocese to discuss his vision which includes the possibility of creating larger parish units through either mergers or closures.
The archdiocese controls the Mount Vernon Cemetery. In 2017 the former superintendent of the cemetery was convicted of mis-selling burial plots for 9 years, for example by re-selling used plots, defrauding the archdiocese and families.[4]
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Main article: Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh |
