Archdiocese of Katowice


The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Katowice is a Latin metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church, an ecclesiastical province in Western Poland.

Special churches

Its cathedral archiepiscopal see is Archikatedra Chrystusa Króla, dedicated to Christ the King, in the city of Katowice, Śląskie.
It has several Minor basilicas :
  • Bazylika św. Ludwika Króla i Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Marii Panny, also in Katowice
  • Bazylika Narodzenia Najświętszej Maryi Panny, in Pszów
  • Bazylika NMP i św. Bartłomieja Apostoła, in Piekary Śląskie
  • Bazylika św. Antoniego Padewskiego, in Rybnik.

Province

Its ecclesiastical province comprises the Archdiocese and two suffragan bishoprics: the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gliwice and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Opole.

History

On 7 November 1922, the Holy See disentangled the Roman Catholic parishes in the Polish Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship, territorially comprising the East of formerly Austrian Cieszyn Silesia and formerly German East Upper Silesia from the then Diocese of Breslau as a permanent Apostolic Administration of Upper Silesia on 17 December the same year.

Statistics

As of 2021, it pastorally served 1,390,000 Catholics on 2,400 km2 in 322 parishes and 6 missions with 1,066 priests, 5 deacons, 1,023 lay religious and 49 seminarians.

Episcopal ordinaries

;Apostolic Administrator of Upper Silesia
;Suffragan Bishops of Katowice
;Metropolitan Archbishops of Katowice
formerly Bishop of Tarnów
  • * Auxiliary Bishop: Marek Szkudło, Titular Bishop of Wigry
  • * Auxiliary Bishop: Adam Wodarczyk, Titular Bishop of Pomezania
  • * Auxiliary Bishop: Grzegorz Olszowski, Titular Bishop of Rhoga
  • Adrian Joseph Galbas
formerly Auxiliary Bishop of Elk, appointed Coadjutor Archbishop on 4 December 2021, and succeeded the see on 31 May 2023. Transferred to Archdiocese of Warsaw on 4 November 2024.