Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Loreto
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The Territorial Prelature of Loreto (Latin:Territorialis Praelatura ab Alma Domo Lauretana) is a Roman Catholic prelature which was elevated to this status on 24 June 1965.
The Holy House of Loreto is located in it.
- Since the fifteenth century, and possibly even earlier, the "Holy House" of Loreto has been numbered among the most famous shrines of Italy. Loreto is a small town a few miles south of Ancona and near the sea. Its most conspicuous building is the basilica. This dome-crowned edifice, which with its various annexes took more than a century to build and adorn under the direction of many famous artists, serves merely as the setting of a tiny cottage standing within the basilica itself. Though the rough walls of the little building have been raised in height and are cased externally in richly sculptured marble, the interior measures only thirty-one feet by thirteen. An altar stands at one end beneath a statue, blackened with age, of the Virgin Mother and her Divine Infant. As the inscription, Hic Verbum caro factum est, reminds us, this building is honoured by Christians as the veritable cottage at Nazareth in which the Holy Family lived, and the Word became incarnate.[1]
The Metropolitan is the Archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo. Its rite is Latin (or Roman). It covers 17 square kilometers (6 square miles). Its address: Piazza della Madonna 1, 60025 Loteto [Ancona], Italia.
Its total population is 11,537. 96.2% are Catholic. There are 2 secular priests, 48 religious priests for a total 50. There is then 1 priest for every 222.
Its Bishop: Giovanni Tonucci, Prelate. Others: Gianni Danzi, Prelate (died 2 October 2007); Angelo Comastri, Prelate Emeritus; Pasquale Macchi, Prelate Emeritus (secretary of Pope Paul VI); Loris Francesco Capovilla, Prelate Emeritus (former private secretary of Pope John XXIII).
