Archdiocese of Avignon
non-metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese in France
The Archdiocese of Avignon (Latin: Archidioecesis Avenionensis; French: Archidiocèse d'Avignon) is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese exercises jurisdiction over the territory embraced by the department of Vaucluse, in the Region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It is named for the prefecture of Avignon. The diocese has been led since January 2021 by Archbishop Georges Pontier, whom Pope Francis called out of retirement to serve as Apostolic Administrator.
Established in the 4th century as the Diocese of Avignon, the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese in 1475, with the suffragan sees of the Diocese of Carpentras, the Diocese of Vaison, and the Diocese of Cavaillon. By the Concordat of 1801 these three dioceses were united to Avignon, together with the Diocese of Apt, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Aix. At the same time, however, Avignon was reduced to the rank of a bishopric and was made a suffragan see of Aix.
The Archdiocese of Avignon was re-established in 1822, and received as suffragan sees the Diocese of Viviers (restored in 1822); Diocese of Valence (formerly under Lyon); Diocese of Nîmes (restored in 1822); and Diocese of Montpellier (formerly under Toulouse).
On 16 December 2002, the see – officially Archdiocese of Avignon (-Apt, Cavaillon, Carpentras, Orange, and Vaison) – lost its Metropolitan status and became instead a suffragan see of Marseille. In 2009 its name was changed to Archdiocese of Avignon, the secondary titles being suppressed.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Archdiocese of Avignon” is non-metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese in France. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Archdiocese, Avignon and non-metropolitan, not as a finished interpretation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q360149. VIAF identifies the subject as 153288226. The Library of Congress control number is n92005527. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2021, 1475, 1801 and 1822.
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This entry incorporates text from “Archdiocese of Avignon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.