Archdiocese of Tehran–Isfahan
The Archdiocese of Tehran–Isfahan of the Latins (Latin: Archidioecesis Teheranensis-Hispahanensis Latinorum; Persian: اسقفنشین کاتولیک رومی تهران-اصفهان, romanized: Ōsghof-neshin Kātolik Romi Tehrān-Esfahān) is a Latin Catholic jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Iran.[2][3] Pope Francis changed the name of this jurisdiction to the Archdiocese of Tehran–Isfahan of the Latins from the Archdiocese of Isfahan of the Latins on 8 January 2021.[4] Besides a small number of Latin Rite locals, most Catholics in Iran are foreigners living in the country. The majority of Catholics in Iran belong to the Chaldean Catholic Church, and there is also a small Armenian Catholic diocese. Predecessor in the 14th centuryCatholic presence in Iran has always been a function of the relations between the Pope and the rulers of Iran. The first Catholic diocese in Iran was founded by Dominicans in 1318 at Soltaniyeh which then was the capital of the Mongol Ilkhanate.[5] It lasted less than 100 years into the beginning of the 15th century and disappeared during the conquests of Tamerlane.[6] HistoryThe diocese was established by Italian Dominican friars on 12 October 1629 when Isfahan was the capital of the Safavid Empire. The cathedral was situated in the then Christian suburb of New Julfa.[7] This diocese continued under the rule of Shah Safi I. The next appointments of bishops were only possible with longer interruptions from 1693 until 1708 (Elias Mutton) and from 1716 until 1731 (Barnabas Fedeli). The small Catholic community in Isfahan was devastated by the Afghan invasion of the city in 1722. In consequence the titular diocese was administered from the see of Baghdad with only a handful of Catholic families surviving in Isfahan. In the 19th century, Catholic missionaries were able to restart activities in Iran. From their center in Urmia, apostolic administrators tried to reorganize the Latin Church in the country. In 1896, the Lazarist missionary François Lesné was made bishop of Isfahan. Like his successor, Jacques-Emile Sontag, he resided in Urmia in Western Iran which until World War I held a sizeable Christian population of Assyrians. The diocese was elevated to an archdiocese on 1 July 1910. After the devastation of the Christian population during and after World War I, the see of Isfahan fell vacant again.  It was not until 1974 that a new archbishop of Isfahan could be instituted. For this the Dominican priest Kevin William Barden at Tehran was chosen. Since then the see of the diocese has been at Tehran. When Barden was expelled from the country in the beginning of the Islamic revolution in 1980, it took another 9 years until the Salesian Ignazio Bedini was consecrated new archbishop. Following his retirement in 2014, the diocese was administered by an apostolic administrator until the consecration of Dominique Joseph Mathieu in 2021. Leadership
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