The diocese covers a territory of of which is in the Vatican City State and the rest is in Italy. The diocese has 1,219 diocesan priests of its own, while 2,331 priests of other dioceses, 5,072
religious priests and 140
Opus Dei priests reside in its territory, as do 2,266 women religious. In 2004, they ministered to an estimated 2,454,000
faithful, who made up 88% of the population of the territory. The city of Rome has grown beyond the boundaries of the diocese. Notable parts of the city belong to the dioceses of
Ostia and
Porto-Santa Rufina. Ostia is administered together with the Vicariate of Rome, and thus included in the statistics given below, while Porto is instead administered by its own
diocesan bishop. The diocese covers an area of 849 km2 and includes most of the city and the municipality of Rome in Italy, and the entire territory of Vatican City. The Diocese of Rome is divided into two vicariates, each with its respective
vicar general. Two vicars general exercise the episcopal ministry and pastoral government for their respective territories within the Diocese of Rome. Unless the bishop of a diocese reserves some acts to himself, vicars general have by law within a diocese the power to undertake all administrative acts that pertain to the bishop except those that in law require a special mandate of the bishop.
Vicariate of Vatican City This vicariate has responsibility for the territory of
Vatican City. It consists of two
parishes:
Saint Peter's Basilica and
Saint Anne in the Vatican. Its pastoral mission with respect to residents of its territory is minimal. It is primarily concerned with providing appropriate services to tourists, pilgrims, and others in Rome who avail themselves of services provided in Vatican City. Since 1991, the vicar general for Vatican City has been the cardinal who is the archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, currently Cardinal
Mauro Gambetti.
Vicariate of Rome '', the
throne of the
Pope in the
Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran The vicariate general (
Vicariatus urbis) for the diocesan territory outside of Vatican City, territory that is under Italian sovereignty, is based at the
Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, which is the
cathedral of the diocese. The
vicar general for the Vicariate of Rome has for centuries been called the
cardinal vicar (). The vicariate has 336 active and 5 suppressed parishes in its territory. Since 1970 the vicar of the city of Rome has also been assigned the office of archpriest of the Lateran Archbasilica, where the
diocesan curia has its headquarters. From a strictly pastoral point of view, the diocese is divided into five sectors: north, south, east, west, and center. Each sector is assigned an auxiliary bishop who collaborates with the vicar general and the vicegerent in the pastoral administration of the diocese. The five bishops of the sectors can be joined by other auxiliary bishops for specific pastoral areas such as health care ministry. In January 2023, Pope Francis reorganized the Diocese of Rome, greatly restricting the role of vicar general. He defined the role of each auxiliary bishop and took direct charge of many diocesan decisions. He defined the vicar general's role as a coordinator of the work of diocesan bodies, defined him as an auxiliary, and restricted his sphere of responsibility with the rule that the vicar general "will not undertake important initiatives or ones exceeding ordinary administration without first reporting to me". == Ecclesiastical Province of Rome ==