An Archdiocese is an Ecclesiastical Institution that hierarchically represents a preeminent head in a certain region. The delegate of an archdiocese is called archbishop and his function with respect to the other churches of the region that the archdiocese religiously manages or controls is of preeminence, being able to offer masses and liturgical acts in any of these and collaborating with the bishops of the regions with the functions to be performed in their assigned parishes.
In general, the seat of an archdiocese is in the cathedral of a province, state or territorial division, and this represents the other churches of the region before the highest authorities of the Catholic Church. Dioceses that are churches lower in the power ladder of the Catholic Church are around these.
Archdioceses are hierarchical institutions of the Roman Catholic Church, in no other administration of another religion will you encounter this form of “ecclesiastical government”. Etymologically, Archdiocese comes from the combination of the Greek "Archí" which means "The First" or "Superior" and diocese comes from Roman history in which the administrative divisions of the church in Rome and the conquered territories were named.
In a country or region there may be several archdioceses that are appointed and established by the Vatican following the precepts of religious laws. However, there are basic principles for the holy see to designate a church as an archdiocese or archdiocese as it is called in some regions of Europe with its respective archbishop.
The first of these is the trajectory that the elected church has in the community, its representation in society, the importance it has in political and economic decisions and relations in the region and its active participation in cultural manifestations.
The second principle is the time that the cathedral has in the region, many churches that were established in colonial times still remain despite the social attacks (wars) and natural (earthquakes, floods), for that reason they are fixed always as the main church headquarters in that region.
