Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rhodes


The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rhodes is an exempt, non-Metropolitan archdiocese, former titular see and originally a diocese later promoted to metropolitan archdiocese.
It is directly subject to the Holy See, not part of an ecclesiastical province, and has its cathedral see at the St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral in the eponymous capital of the island of Rhodes in Greece.
One former cathedral of "Our Lady of the Castle" was turned into a mosque during the Ottoman period and is now a museum, the other former cathedral of St. John was turned into a Greek Orthodox church.

History

An ancient diocese was established in Rhodes around 200 AD and promoted to Metropolitan Archdiocese around 400 AD. It continues as the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Rhodes.
A Roman Catholic see was established on the island when it became the seat of the Knights Hospitaller in 1308. In 1523, with the fall of the island to the Ottoman Empire, it was suppressed as a residential diocese but turned into a titular see.
On March 28, 1928, it was restored as non-metropolitan, exempt Archdiocese of Rhodos on the territory of the suppressed Apostolic Prefecture of Rhodes and adjacent islands.

Episcopal ordinaries

; Metropolitan Archbishops of Rhodes
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; Titular Archbishops of Rhodes
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  • Francesco Niccolini,
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; Exempt Archbishops of Rhodes