Paraguay

Republic of South America, in the southern central part, between Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina. Before the middle of the 16th century Franciscan missionaries accompanied the Spanish explorers and conquerors, and later Saint Francis Solanus was one of those who preached in this region and made many converts among the Indians. The Jesuits were active there in the 17th and 18th centuries until their expulsion in 1767. The country was under Spanish rule until 1811, when independence was declared. By the Constitution of 1870 the Congress is declared powerless to forbid the exercise of any religion; the Catholic Faith is recognized as the chief religion of the nation; and the organization of the Church is partly supported and partly controlled by the. State.

Ecclesiastically the country is governed by the archdiocese of

• Asunción

the dioceses of

• Benjamín Aceval
• Caacupé
• Carapeguá
• Ciudad del Este
• Concepción
• Coronel Oviedo
• Encarnación
• San Juan Bautista de las Misiones
• San Lorenzo
• San Pedro
• Villarrica del Espíritu Santo

the vicariates apostolic of

• Chaco Paraguayo
• Pilcomayo

and the

• Paraguay Military Ordinariate

See also

• Catholic-Hierarchy.Org
• World Fact Book
• patron saints index

New Catholic Dictionary

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