The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States. It is comprised of several counties of the state of Massachusetts. It is led by a prelate archbishop which serves as pastor of the motherchurch, Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the City of Boston.
The original Diocese of Boston was canonically erected on April 8, 1808 by Pope Pius VII. It took its territories from the larger historic Diocese of Baltimore and consisted of the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Throughout the history of the United States and exponential growth of Catholicism in New England, the Diocese of Boston was carved into smaller new dioceses. On February 12, 1875, Pope Pius IX elevated the diocese to become an archdiocese.
The archdiocese was the center of the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal that culminated in the resignation of its archbishop, Bernard Cardinal Law, on December 13, 2002. Pope John Paul II also denied the archdiocese of a new prelate cardinal while Cardinal Law was still in active service in the Roman Curia. Archbishop Sean O'Malley now presides over the Archdiocese.
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