Roman Catholic Diocese of Bolzano-Brixen

Diocese of Bolzano-Brixen Dioecesis Bauzanensis-Brixinensis Diözese Bozen-Brixen Diocesi di Bolzano-Bressanone
Location
Country	Italy
Metropolitan	Trento
Statistics
Area	7,400 km2 (2,900 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2018) 525,092 501,619 (95.5%)
Parishes	281
Information
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	6th Century
Cathedral	Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta e San Cassiano (Brixen)
Co-cathedral	Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta (Bolzano)
Secular priests	239 (diocesan) 174 (Religious Orders) 29 Permanent Deacons
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Ivo Muser
Map
Website
www.bz-bx.net

The Diocese of Bolzano-Brixen (German: Diözese Bozen-Brixen, Italian: Diocesi di Bolzano-Bressanone, Latin: Dioecesis Bauzanensis-Brixinensis) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in northern Italy, with its seat in the city of Bolzano. Its territory corresponds with that of the province of South Tyrol with its predominantly German-speaking population. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Trento.^[1][2]

The current configuration of the diocese was created by Pope Paul VI, in a papal bull of 6 August 1964, when the South Tyrolean parts of the archdiocese of Trento around Bolzano and Merano were merged into the Diocese of Brixen. In turn, the Austrian parts of the Brixen diocese around Feldkirch, Vorarlberg were at first allocated to the Apostolic Administration of Innsbruck-Felkirch, that only in 1964 was promoted as a Diocese and separated in two in 1968.^{[3] [4]} The Ladin districts of Fodom (Livinallongo del Col di Lana and Colle Santa Lucia) and Anpez (Cortina d’Ampezzo) passed from Brixen to the Diocese of Belluno. At the same time the episcopal see was moved from Brixen to Bolzano, where the Assumption of Mary parish church was elevated to a co-cathedral, while the chapter remained in Brixen.

The diocesan ordinary (bishop) is Ivo Muser, appointed on 27 July 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI.