Archdiocese of Pisa
The Archdiocese of Pisa is a Latin Church metropolitan see of the Catholic Church in Pisa, Italy. It was founded in the 4th century and elevated to the dignity of an archdiocese on 21 April 1092 by Pope Urban II. The seat of the bishop is the cathedral of the Assumption in the Piazza del Duomo.
The archbishop of Pisa presides over the Ecclesiastical Province of Pisa, which includes the dioceses of Livorno, Massa Carrara-Pontremoli, Pescia, and Volterra.
In 2025, Pope Francis nominated Fr. Saverio Cannistrà, OCD, former superior general of the Order of Discalced Carmelites as archbishop of Pisa, replacing Giovanni Paolo Benotto, who has been archbishop since 2008.
History
In a letter of 1 September 1077, Pope Gregory VII wrote to the bishops, clergy, civil leaders, and people of Corsica, acknowledging his responsibility for oversight of their well-being as part of the lands of S. Peter, but admitting that he was unable to do so personally and effectively. He had therefore appointed Bishop-elect Landulfus of Pisa to be his legate in Corsica. On 30 November 1078, Pope Gregory confirmed all the privileges that belonged to the Church of Pisa, as well as the legateship of Corsica. He granted the bishop half of all the papal income from the island, as well as all of the judicial income. On 28 June 1091, Pope Urban II, at the request of Countess Matilda of Tuscany, Bishop Dagobert, and the nobility of Pisa, returned the legateship of the island of Corsica to Bishop Dagobert, on the condition of an annual payment of 50 pounds to the papal treasury.On 21 April 1092, Pope Urban issued the bull "Cum Universis", in which he created the metropolitanate of Pisa, promoting the bishop to the rank of archbishop, and assigning the bishoprics of Corsica as his suffragans. This he did at the request of Countess Matilda of Tuscany and in consideration of the considerable merits of Bishop Dagibert in remaining faithful to the Roman church in the face of the schism against Pope Gregory VII. Pope Gelasius II, who was staying in Pisa from 2 September to 2 October 1118, confirmed the arrangements in a bull of 26 September 1118. After the death of Pope Gelasius at Cluny on 29 January 1119, Archbishop Petrus and Cardinal Petrus della Gherardesca dei Conti di Donoratico, a native of Pisa and papal legate, crossed to Corsica to receive to obtain the oaths of fealty of the bishops of Corsica.
Pope Gelasius' bull was an unpleasant shock for the Republic of Genoa, who coveted the island of Corsica, and a war broke out in 1119 between the two naval powers. The Genoese sent out a fleet of 28 galleys, but in a battle at Porto Venere the Pisans were victorious, as they were at a second battle at the mouth of the Arno River. The war lasted a total of fourteen years. On 16 May 1120, the new pope, Callixtus II, who had been elected at Cluny in France and had just returned to Italy, issued a bull confirming the privileges of Urban II and Gelasius II.
But on 3 January 1121, Pope Callixtus wrote to the bishops of Corsica that the privilege of consecrating bishops for Corsica, which had been granted to the archbishops of Pisa, was withdrawn, and that in the future only the pope would have the right to consecrate bishops for Corsica and to receive their oaths of submission. The Genoese were not mollified by his action. They resorted to bribery to obtain what they had not obtained by military force. A document, written in Rome and dated 16 June 1121, reveals that negotiations had been taking place, with the agreement and authorization of Pope Callixtus, between the Genoese agents, Caffaro and Barisone, and a committee of three cardinals and a bishop on the question of Corsica. The Genoese had agreed to give money to the Pope and other members of the Curia by 10 November. The Pope was to receive 1,600 silver marks; cardinals and bishops 300 marks; priests and clerics 50 ounces of gold; Cardinal Peter of Porto 303 ounces of gold; Petrus Leonis 100 silver marks, and his sons 55 marks; Leo Frangipane 40 marks; and additional payments to other nobles.
The opportune moment to satisfy the Genoans came when Callixtus II convened the First Lateran Council on 27 March 1123, to ratify the Concordat of Worms and end the schism instigated by the Emperor Henry V. The Pope appointed a committee, consisting of 24 bishops and other prelates, led by Archbishop Gualterius of Ravenna, to examine and render a judgment on the claims of the Church of Pisa over Corsica. On 6 April, the last day of the council, the claims of Pisa were rejected by the Fathers, after the damning report of Archbishop Gualterius.
The loss was temporary, however, for, on 21 July 1126, the new pope, Honorius II, restored the privilege, and granted the archbishops the right of holding synods not only in Pisa, but also in Corsica. He took the trouble to rebuke Callixtus II and his committee, stating that the Pisans had been despoiled sine praecedente ipsorum Pisanorum culpa et absque iudicio.
In 1127, Archbishop Ruggero, who had leagued himself with Arezzo and Florence, made war against Siena. He was taken prisoner, and spent more than a year in captivity.
On March 1133, Pope Innocent elevated the Diocese of Genoa to an archdiocese, and assigned it metropolitan status over Mariana, Nebbio, and Accia ; Bobbio, and Brugnato, to which was added the diocese of Albenga, formerly in the Metropolitanate of Milan. The Pope also enfeoffed Genoa with the northern half of the island. The archdiocese of Pisa therefore lost ecclesiastical control of the northern half of the island of Corsica, retaining the dioceses of Ajaccio, Aleria, and Salona. Pisa was compensated, to a small degree, by being named Metropolitan of Populonia. These grants, which had been made to Archbishop Hubertus, were confirmed in the bull "Tunc Apostolicae" on 22 April 1138, and in addition Innocent II granted Pisa the honorary primacy of the province of Turritana. He also confirmed the legateship over Sardinia which had been granted by Urban II, and the right to consecrate the six bishops in his ecclesiastical province.
From the late 12th to the early 13th century, the Pisan archdiocese was the feudal suzerain of the four giudicati of Sardinia. On 6 March 1131, Gonnario of Torres swore fealty to Archbishop Ruggero of Pisa.
On 22 April 1459, Pope Pius II issued the bull "Triumphans Pastor", in which he raised the diocese of Siena to metropolitan status, and assigned to it as suffragans the dioceses of Soano, Chiusi, Massa Marittima, and Grosseto. Massa was taken from the metropolitanate of Pisa.