The Roman Catholic Diocese of Villarrica del Espíritu Santo () is a Latin Rite suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Asunción, which covers all of and only Paraguay.
Its cathedral episcopal see is Catedral Santa Clara, dedicated to Saint Clara, in the city of Villarrica, Guairá Department.
Statistics As of 22 March 2025, it had 198,360 Catholics (88% of 225,410 total) on 3,946 km² in 25 parishes, 42 priests (35 diocesan, 7 religious), 43 deacons, and 12 seminarians.
History On 1 May 1929, the Diocese of Villarrica was established on territory split off from the then Diocese of Paraguay.
It received a papal visit from Pope John Paul II in May 1988.
On 13 January 1990, the Diocese was renamed, or more precisely given an alternative name, as Diocese of Villarrica del Espíritu Santo to avoid being confused with its Chilean namesake.
Villarrica del Espíritu Santo has been split to create other dioceses:
19 January 1957, to establish the Diocese of San Juan Bautista. 21 January 1957, to establish the Territorial Prelature of Encarnación and Alto Paraná (now a diocese). 5 June 1978, to establish the Diocese of Carapeguá. 22 March 2025, to establish the Diocese of Caazapá.
Leadership +No.NameEpiscopacy1Agustín Rodríguez Argüello–2Felipe Santiago Benítez–3Sebelio Peralta–4Ricardo Valenzuela–5Adalberto Martínez–6Miguel Ángel Cabello–Incumbent
See also List of Catholic dioceses in Paraguay
References
Notes