Diocese of Bruges Dioecesis Brugensis Bisdom Brugge (Dutch) Diocèse de Bruges (French) Bistum Brügge (German) | |
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| Location | |
| Country | Belgium |
| Ecclesiastical province | Mechelen-Brussels |
| Metropolitan | Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels |
| Coordinates | 51°12′18″N 3°13′21″E / 51.204977°N 3.222416°E |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 3,145 km2 (1,214 sq mi) |
| Population - Total - Catholics | (as of 2020) 1,197,690 846,400 (70.7%) |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 12 May 1559 |
| Cathedral | St. Salvator's Cathedral in Bruges |
| Patron saint | Donatian of Reims |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Bishop | Lodewijk Aerts |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Jozef De Kesel |
| Bishops emeritus | Roger Vangheluwe |
| Map | |
 The diocese of Bruges, coextensive with the province of West Flanders | |
| Website | |
| https://www.kerknet.be/organisatie/bisdom-brugge | |
The Diocese of Bruges (Latin: Dioecesis Brugensis; Dutch: Bisdom Brugge) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, which covers all of Belgium.
A diocese from 1558 to its suppression in 1801, in 1832 it became a pre-diocesan apostolic vicariate as the Apostolic Administration of West Flanders.[1] Its territory coincides with West Flanders.
The episcopal see of the diocese is St. Salvator's Cathedral, dedicated to Our Savior, in Bruges, West Flanders, which is also a minor basilica. The patron saint of the diocese is Donatian of Reims,[2] so the cathedral is also known as Sint-Salvators- en Donaaskathedraal.
As of 2014[update], it pastorally served 965,000 Catholics (82.1% of 1,174,752 total) on 3,145 km² in 362 parishes and 65 missions with 708 priests (499 diocesan, 209 religious), 91 deacons, 1,986 lay religious (290 brothers, 1,696 sisters) and 7 seminarians.
An earlier diocese of Bruges was established on 12 May 1558, on territory split off from the Diocese of Tournai, as part of the great Habsburg reform of the church in the then Spanish Low Countries. Its see, St. Donatian's Cathedral, was destroyed in a fire in 1799 during the aftermath of the French Revolution.
During the reforms under the Napoleonic Concordate, the diocese was suppressed on 15 July 1801 and its territory merged into the Diocese of Ghent.
On 17 December 1832, shortly after the independence of Belgium, the territory was restored as the pre-diocesan Apostolic Administration of West Flanders. On 27 May 1834, the territory was again promoted to diocese and renamed after its see, Bruges, while the incumbent Apostolic Administrator became Suffragan Bishop. On 31 May 1967 the diocese lost a portion of territory to the much older Diocese of Tournai, shortly after a reshuffle of provincial borders involving a few municipalities, notably Mouscron being transferred to the province of Hainaut (to which the bishopric of Tournai is now limited).
In 1985 the diocese of Bruges experienced a papal visit from Pope John Paul II, who on 17 May gave a homily on the horrors of war at Ypres as part of his pastoral visit to the Low Countries.[3]
A 2010 scandal saw Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, a confessed and hardly remorseful pederast, forced into early retirement.
