Diocese of Irapuato
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Irapuato is a Latin suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of León in southern Mexico.
Its cathedral Episcopal see is Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, at Irapuato, Guanajuato.
History
Established on 3 January 2004 as Diocese of Irapuato / Irapuaten, on territories split off from the Diocese of León and the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Morelia. It was a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of San Luis Potosí until 25 November 2006.Luis Esteban Zavala Rodríguez, a diocesan priest, was condemned to 65 years and three months in prison and fined MXN $61,000 in January 2021 for raping a 12-year-old girl as she took catechism classes at a church in Irapuato. The diocese released a statement saying it was respectful of the civil authorities and committed to truth and transparency, "as well as to respect and protection of any person, without discrimination, particularly with children, adolescents, and young people, and with vulnerable people ”.
Statistics
As per 2014, it pastorally served 1,427,998 Catholics on 4,775 km2 in 68 parishes and 38 missions with 168 priests, 2 deacons, 278 lay religious and 75 seminarians.Bishops
Episcopal ordinaries
;Suffragan Bishops of Irapuato- José de Jesús Martínez Zepeda, previously Titular Bishop of Naratcata as Auxiliary Bishop of México
- Enrique Díaz Díaz, previously Titular Bishop of Izirzada as Auxiliary Bishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas, next Coadjutor Bishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
- José Guadalupe Torres Campos, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua in 2005
- Francisco González Ramos, appointed Bishop of Izcalli, México in 2014