Pope creates second archdiocese in Texas

Published: 2004-12-29

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II divided the state of Texas into two ecclesiastical provinces Dec. 29, making Galveston-Houston an archdiocese and the metropolitan see for six other eastern Texas dioceses. The split coincided with the pope's appointment of a new archbishop of San Antonio, which since 1926 had been the metropolitan see for all the dioceses of Texas. San Antonio remains the metropolitan see for seven other dioceses in the state. The changes were announced in Washington by Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, papal nuncio to the United States. Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza, who has headed the Galveston-Houston Diocese since 1984, was made an archbishop. His coadjutor, Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo, was made a coadjutor archbishop. The other dioceses forming the new province are Tyler, Austin, Beaumont, Victoria, Corpus Christi and Brownsville. Apart from Tyler in the northeast and Austin in the east central part of the state, all run along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

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