1539 to 1800 The first Catholic in modern-day Arizona was
Marcos de Niza, a French Franciscan friar. He traveled up from the
Gulf of California into
Southern Arizona in 1539. Spanish Jesuit priests arrived in present-day northern Mexico in the 1610s in the lowlands near the
Pacific Ocean. They worked out a compromise with the people of the
Yaqui River valley that allowed for the establishment of over fifty mission settlements. However, this arrangement broke down when the Jesuits attempted to end the Yaqui
shamanic religious tradition. An agreement between General
Pedro de Perea and the
viceroy of
New Spain resulted in the formation of the
Province of Nueva Navarra in 1637. It was renamed the
Province of Sonora in 1648. The most famous Jesuit missionary in the region was
Eusebio Kino. He arrived in Nueva Navarra in 1687 and started missionary work in the
Pimería Alta area. He began his first mission at
Cucurpe in the present-day Mexican
State of Sonora, then established churches and missions in
Los Remedios, Imuris, Magdalena, Cocóspera, San Ignacio, Tubutama and Caborca. To develop an economy for the natives, Kino taught them European farming techniques. He established the
Mission San Xavier del Bac in the Tohono O’odham Nation in present-day
Tucson in 1692.
1800 to 1900 With the end of the
Mexican War of Independence in 1821, the Franciscans and other religious orders abandoned their missions in Nueva Navarra and other areas of New Spain. • Diocese of New Mexico (1853 to 1868) • Diocese of Tucson (1897 to 1969) Also in 1881, the first Catholic church was constructed in Tempe; it would be replaced in 1903 by
Old St. Mary's Church. The first Catholic church in
Flagstaff, First Nativity, was dedicated in 1888. Sacred Heart Church in
Prescott was finished in 1894.
1900 to 2000 Our Lady of Perpetual Help, known as the Old Adobe Mission, was constructed by Mexican Catholics in the 1910s; it is the oldest Catholic church in
Scottsdale.
Pope Paul VI erected the Diocese of Phoenix in 1969, taking its territory from the
Dioceses of Tucson and
Gallup. The pope appointed Auxiliary Bishop
Edward A. McCarthy from the
Archdiocese of Cincinnati as the first bishop of Phoenix. In 1976, McCarthy became
coadjutor archbishop of the
Archdiocese of Miami. The second bishop of Phoenix was Auxiliary Bishop
James Rausch from the
Diocese of St. Cloud, named by Paul VI in 1977. On occasion, he would celebrate mass in orange groves to accommodate
undocumented migrants who were afraid to travel to a church in a city. Rausch died in 1981. To replace Rausch,
Pope John Paul II appointed
Thomas J. O'Brien from Tucson in 1981. He was also instrumental in persuading John Paul II and
Mother Teresa to visit Phoenix in the late 1980s. In 2003, a week after O'Brien fatally struck a pedestrian in a
hit and run incident, he resigned. His successor was
Thomas Olmsted, previously bishop of the
Diocese of Lincoln.
2000 to present In 2009 the diocese contributed $50,000 to the successful campaign by Stand For Marriage Maine to overturn an impending legalization of
same-sex marriage in Maine. In 2014, two priests were shot during a
burglary at Mater Misericordiae Mission in Phoenix: Kenneth Walker was killed and Joseph Terra was wounded. The diocese in 2019 opened Nazareth House, a two-year, college level seminary in Phoenix. In July 2021, in response to
Pope Francis' Motu Proprio
Traditionis Custodes, which restricts the celebration of the
Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), Olmsted issued a decree allowing the TLM to continue in the diocese under his
dispensation. Early in 2022, Andres Arango, pastor at St. Gregory Parish in Phoenix, resigned after learning he that he had used the incorrect words when performing thousands of baptisms. Olmsted said he believed the inadvertent error required the individuals to be baptized again. Olmsted retired in 2022. Auxiliary Bishop
John P. Dolan of the
Diocese of San Diego was appointed by Francis as the next bishop of Phoenix in 2022. In April 2025, the
University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, and the Diocese of Phoenix announced plans to establish the first full seminary in Arizona. As of 2026, Dolan is the bishop of the diocese. ==Media==