Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Loreto

Territorial Prelature of Loreto Praelatura Territorialis ab Alma Domo Lauretana
File:Ancona loreto.jpg Basilica in Loreto
Location
Country	Italy
Ecclesiastical province	Ancona-Osimo
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2006) 11,694 11,150 (95.3%)
Parishes	5
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	11 October 1935 (88 years ago)
Cathedral	Santuario Basilica Pontificia di S. Casa
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Prelate	Giovanni Tonucci
Map
File:Prelatura territoriale di Loreto.svg
Website
www.santuarioloreto.it

The Territorial Prelature of Loreto (Latin: Praelatura Territorialis ab Alma Domo Lauretana) is a Roman Catholic territorial prelature which was elevated to this status on 24 June 1965. The Holy House of Loreto is located in it. The metropolitan see is the Archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo and the rite is Latin (or Roman). It covers 17 square kilometers (6.6 sq mi) with an address at: Piazza della Madonna 1, 60025 Loteto [Ancona], Italia. The total population is 11,537 of which 96.2% are Catholic. Serving Loreto are two secular priests, 48 religious priests for a total 50. There is approximately one priest for every 222 persons.

The current bishop is Giovanni Tonucci, Prelate. Others: Gianni Danzi, Prelate (died 2 October 2007); Angelo Comastri, Prelate Emeritus; Pasquale Macchi, Prelate Emeritus (secretary of Pope Paul VI); Loris Francesco Capovilla, Prelate Emeritus (former private secretary of Pope John XXIII, later elevated to cardinal by Pope Francis).

History

Since the fifteenth century, and possibly even earlier, the "Holy House" of Loreto has been numbered among the most famous shrines of Italy. Loreto is a small town a few miles south of Ancona and near the sea. Its most conspicuous building is the basilica. This dome-crowned edifice, which with its various annexes took more than a century to build and adorn under the direction of many famous artists, serves merely as the setting of a tiny cottage standing within the basilica itself. Though the rough walls of the little building have been raised in height and are cased externally in richly sculptured marble, the interior measures only 31 feet by 13. An altar stands at one end beneath a statue, blackened with age, of the Virgin Mother and her Divine Infant. As the inscription, Hic Verbum caro factum est, reminds us, this building is honoured by Christians as the veritable cottage at Nazareth in which the Holy Family lived, and the Word became incarnate.

Ordinaries

• Gaetano Malchiodi † (25 Jan 1935 - 26 Jan 1960 Retired)
• Angelo Prinetto † (18 Oct 1961 - 25 Apr 1965 Resigned)
• Aurelio Sabattani † (24 Jun 1965 - 30 Sep 1971 Appointed, Secretary of the Apostolic Signatura)
• Loris Francesco Capovilla (25 Sep 1971 - 10 Dec 1988 Resigned)
• Pasquale Macchi † (10 Dec 1988 - 7 Oct 1996 Retired)
• Angelo Comastri (9 Nov 1996 - 5 Feb 2005 Appointed, Coadjutor Archpriest of Saint Peter's Basilica)
• Gianni Danzi † (22 Feb 2005 - 2 Oct 2007 Died)
• Giovanni Tonucci (18 Oct 2007 - present)

See also

• Territorial prelature
• Prelate