Metropolitan bishop
In hierarchical
Christian churches, the rank of
metropolitan bishop, or simply
metropolitan, pertains to the
diocesan bishop or
archbishop (then more precisely called
metropolitan archbishop) of a
metropolis; that is, the chief city of an old
Roman province,
ecclesiastical province, or regional capital. His jurisdiction is called a
metropolia.
In the
Roman Catholic Church, a metropolitan has supervisory authority over the
bishops in the dioceses that make up his
ecclesiastical province, who are therefore called his
suffragan bishops. Each bishop has direct and full jurisdiction over his own diocese, and retains a direct link to the Pope in his role as universal bishop, but a metropolitan is empowered within his province and over his suffragans to exercise a limited degree of intermediate supervision. Examples include extremely rare instances of serious breachs of Church law. The metropolitan may preside over liturgies in any of the suffragan dioceses as if he were the local diocesan bishop without prior permission, though again this is rare, and presides over the provincial
synod when it is convened. The metropolitan's serves as the first court of appeal under canon law from local diocesan courts. Metropolitans also intervene in the selection of a
diocesan administrator when there is a vacancy caused by the death or resignation of the suffragan bishop and the local church fails to properly elect an administrator. They also generally preside at the installation and consecrations of new bishops in the province. The metropolitan's insignia is the
pallium, which he can wear in his diocese and the other suffragan dioceses in the province.
All
Latin rite metropolitans are
archbishops; however, some archbishops are not metropolitans as there are a few instances where an archdiocese has no suffragans.
Titular archbishops (i.e. ordained bishops who are given an honorary title to a now-defunct archdiocese; e.g. many Vatican officials and
papal nuncios and apostolic delegates are titular archbishops) are never metropolitans. As of April 2006, 508 archdioceses were headed by metropolitan-archbishops, 27 archbishops were not metropolitans, and there were 89 titular archbishops. See also
Catholic Church hierarchy for the distinctions.
In the
Eastern Rite Catholic churches, the term
metropolitan is used in a similar way to the Eastern Orthodox churches. In some of the
sui iuris Eastern churches, the head of the church is a metropolitan. These
sui iuris metropolitan churches are generally less populous than
patriarchal or
major archepiscopal churches, and are subject to greater oversight by the
pope and the
Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
In the
Anglican Communion, the metropolitan is generally the head of an
ecclesiastical province (or cluster of
dioceses) and ranks immediately under the
primate of the national church (who is often also a metropolitan). Most metropolitans, but not all, are styled
archbishop.
In the
Eastern Orthodox churches, the title is used variously. In the Hellenic Churches metropolitans are ranked below archbishops in precedence, and primates of local Churches below Patriarchal rank are generally designated archbishops. The reverse is true for the Slavic Churches, where metropolitans rank above archbishops and the title can be used for Primatial sees as well as important cities. In neither case do metropolitans have any special authority over other ruling bishops within their provinces. However, metropolitans (archbishops in the
Greek Orthodox Church) are the chairmen of their respective synods of bishops.
*
List of Catholic Metropolitan Archdioceses in the world by Giga-Catholic Information
*
Primate (religion)*
Exarch*
Patriarch
