Archdiocese of Glasgow (modern)

The Archdiocese of Glasgow (Latin: Archidioecesis Glasguensis) is the Latin Catholic metropolitan see of the Province of Glasgow in central Scotland. The episcopal seat of the developing diocese was established by Saint Kentigern in the 6th century AD. It is one of two catholic metropolitan archdioceses of the Catholic Church in Scotland: the only archdioceses in Scotland. It is the elder of the two bishoprics. Innocent VIII first raised Glasgow a metropolitan archbishopric in 1492. The Metropolis has the dioceses of Motherwell and Paisley as suffragans within the Ecclesiastical Province. The modern archdiocese of Glasgow was re-established in 1878 and currently consists of 106 parishes served by 228 priests (2003 figures) covering an area of 1,165 square kilometres (450 sq mi) in the West of Scotland. It includes the city of Glasgow and extends to the town of Cumbernauld in the east, northwards to Bearsden, Bishopbriggs and Milngavie and westwards to Dumbarton, Balloch and Garelochhead. The Catholic population of the diocese is 224,344 (28.8%) out of a total population of 779,490 (2003 figures). Membership dropped to 215,000 (26,5 % out of the total population) by 2016. Archbishop emeritus Mario Joseph Conti was appointed in 2002 by Pope John Paul II. Upon Conti's resignation in July 2012, having passed the required age of 75, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Philip Tartaglia, the Bishop of Paisley, to succeed him. Tartaglia was installed as archbishop in September 2012. He died in office on 13 January 2021: Saint Kentigern's feast day. Not far from St. Enoch Square, and directly adjacent the St. Enoch Centre (the site of an early church of Glasgow's co-founding patron Saint Teneu on the River Clyde) , the seat of the archbishop is St Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow.