1800 to 1940 Until the
Mexican-American War (1846 to 1849), the Pueblo area was controlled by Mexico, with the few Catholics in the area under the jurisdiction of the
Archdiocese of Durango. After the war, the United States assumed control of the region. In 1851,
Pope Pius IX created the Apostolic Vicariate of New Mexico, including Colorado. The Vatican converted the vicariate into the
Diocese of Santa Fe in 1853. The first church in the Pueblo area was the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, constructed in 1858 in
Conejos by colonists from New Mexico. In 1868,
Pope Pius IX removed territory from the Diocese of Santa Fe and the
Diocese of Grass Valley to form the Vicariate Apostolic of Colorado and Utah. In 1870, the pope erected the Vicariate Apostolic of Colorado, covering only the state of Colorado. In 1884, St. Joseph was founded as a mission church in
Grand Junction, the first in that city. On August 16, 1887,
Pope Leo XIII converted the vicariate into the Diocese of Denver. In 1898, St. Ignatius was founded as a mission church in
Durango, serving Native American Catholics.The first Catholic church in
Alamosa was Sacred Heart, dedicated in 1928.
1940 to present On November 15, 1941,
Pope Pius XII separated territory from the
Archdiocese of Denver to form the Diocese of Pueblo. He appointed
Joseph Willging from the
Diocese of Helena as the first bishop of Pueblo. During his 17-year-long tenure, Willging oversaw an increase in the number of parishes from 39 to 60, and the number of priests from 84 to 151. He encouraged the establishment of
parochial schools and Catholic
hospitals. Willging died in 1959 after 17 years as bishop. He was replaced by
Arthur Tafoya of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in 1980 by
Pope John Paul II. In 1983, John Paul II removed several counties from the Diocese of Pueblo to form the
Diocese of Colorado Springs. After 29 years as bishop, Tafoya retired as bishop of Pueblo in 2009. After Isern retired in 2013,
Pope Francis named
Stephen Berg of the Diocese of Fort Worth to replace him. As of 2026, Berg is the current bishop of Pueblo.
Reports of sex abuse Lucas Antonio Galvan, a diocesan priest, pleaded guilty in 1989 to sexually fondling an 11-year-old girl; he was sentenced to a one to two year
suspended sentence. After finishing his sentence, the priest moved to Mexico, where he was allowed to serve in several parishes. The diocese paid the victim a $90,000 settlement. In 1990, William Groves, a priest as St. Ignatius Catholic Church in
Ignacio, pleaded guilty. He had assaulted a 14-year-old boy in September 1989. Groves received four years probation and sex abuse treatment. John Yengich sued the diocese for $1 million in 2009, claiming that he had been sexually abused by Daniel Maio from 1968 to 1969. Yengich said that Maio, youth director for the diocese, would invite young boys to his residence, where he would ply them with alcohol and play
strip poker with them. A second man accused Maio of sexual abuse in April 2010. The diocese settled the Yengich lawsuit in March 2011. In October 2019, an investigation by Colorado Attorney General
Phil Weiser revealed that 43 Catholic clergy were credibly accused of sexually abusing at least 166 children throughout Colorado since 1950. At least 36 of these children were molested by 19 clergy serving in the Diocese of Pueblo. In October 2020, it was revealed that all three of Colorado's Catholic dioceses, including the Diocese of Pueblo, had paid a total of $6.6 million in compensation to 81 victims of clergy sex abuse within the past year. In December 2020, Weiser's final report revealed that there were an additional nine credibly accused clergy and 46 alleged victims in both the Diocese of Pueblo and Archdiocese of Denver. ==Bishops==