Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bourges

Archdiocese of Bourges

Archidioecesis Bituricensis

Archidiocèse de Bourges
Location
CountryFrance
Ecclesiastical provinceTours
MetropolitanArchdiocese of Tours
Statistics
Area14,210 km2 (5,490 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics
(as of 2022)
533,000
500,000 (93.8%)
Parishes58
Information
DenominationCatholic
Sui iuris churchLatin Church
RiteRoman Rite
Established3rd Century
CathedralCathedral of St. Stephen in Bourges
Patron saintSt. Ursinus of Bourges
Secular priests66 (Diocesan)
19 (Religious Orders)
18 Permanent Deacons
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
ArchbishopJérôme Daniel Beau
Metropolitan ArchbishopVincent Jordy
Bishops emeritusHubert Barbier
Armand Maillard
Map
Website
Official website

The Archdiocese of Bourges (Latin: Archidioecesis Bituricensis; French: Archidiocèse de Bourges) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The Archdiocese comprises the departements of Cher and Indre in the Region of Val de Loire. Bourges Cathedral stands in the city of Bourges in the department of Cher. Although this is still titled as an Archdiocese, it ceased as a metropolitan see in 2002 and is now a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of Tours.

In 2002 it lost its metropolitan function (and thus the archbishop no longer wears the pallium), its province having ceased to exist (the province had already been substantially modified from the late Roman province of Aquitania Prima with which it had initially corresponded - Albi had been erected as an archbishopric in the medieval context of heresiological conflict; Orléans, Chartres, and Blois - historically dependent on Sens - had been attached to Paris, from which they passed to Bourges in the 1960s). The Archdiocese (also the three above- mentioned sees) is now suffragan to the Archdiocese of Tours; other dioceses until recently dependent on Bourges are now suffragans of the Clermont-Ferrand Archdiocese. Historical ecclesiastical geography has here thus changed to correspond with France's new regions, much as diocesan and provincial boundaries from Napoleon's Concordat of 1801 onwards changed mainly in accordance with those of the Revolution's départements.