PRESS RELEASE
POPE FRANCIS NAMES LAS VEGAS DIOCESE AN ARCHDIOCESE AND CREATES NEW “ECCLESIASTICAL PROVINCE OF LAS VEGAS -RENO -SALT LAKE CITY”
May 30, 2023 (Salt Lake City, Utah) - Pope Francis has created the Archdiocese of Las Vegas and named the Most Reverend George Leo Thomas, Ph.D., as the first Metropolitan Archbishop of Las Vegas. Bishop Daniel Mueggenborg and Bishop Oscar Solis will continue to be the respective bishops of Reno and Salt Lake City which will be part of the Province of Las Vegas.
An Ecclesiastical Province consists of a geographical region of an Archdiocese, also known as the, "Metropolitan See," along with other Dioceses which are called "Suffragan Sees." The Metropolitan Archbishop is the head of the Archdiocese. Although there is no direct authority over the Suffragan Dioceses within the province, he can provide assistance to the suffragan Sees as permissible in Canon Law (Church law). With the new Ecclesiastical Province, the Archdiocese of Las Vegas is the Metropolitan See, and the Diocese of Reno and the Diocese of Salt Lake City are the suffragan Sees.
On October 2, 2023, Feast of The Holy Guardian Angels, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States (Ambassador of the Holy See), Archbishop Christophe Pierre will be in Las Vegas to vest Archbishop Thomas with the pallium, during a special Investiture Mass at the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer. More details will follow regarding this special Mass.
Our diocese looks forward to working with Archbishop George Thomas as we advance the Gospel in our region. I congratulate him on his elevation to Archbishop which is a clear recognition of his excellent and faithful pastoral leadership of the Church. I ask the people of God of our Diocese to pray for the new Ecclesiastical Province of Las Vegas and for Archbishop Thomas as the first Archbishop of Las Vegas:
O God, we give you thanks for our new Ecclesiastical Province. May our ministries make visible the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. Graciously bestow your gifts upon Archbishop Thomas, Bishop Mueggenborg, and Bishop Solis, that they may preside in the place of Christ, and teach, sanctify, and govern us in love. Grant that the faithful may be so united to their shepherds, and gathered together in the Holy Spirit through the Gospel and the Eucharist, be a sign and instrument in the world of the presence of Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.
For more information and for updates regarding this important Ecclesial announcement please visit: Dioceseoflasvegas.org/archdiocese.
