Phoenix surpasses New York, Chicago to become America’s 2nd-largest diocese

According to statistics published in the recently released 2025 edition of The Official Catholic Directory, the Diocese of Phoenix has surpassed the Archdiocese of New York and the Archdiocese of Chicago to become the nation’s second-largest diocese, exceeded only by Los Angeles. In the 2024 edition, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (3.82 million Catholics), Archdiocese of New York (3.26 million), Archdiocese of Chicago (2.08 million), Diocese of Phoenix (2.01 million), and Archdiocese of Boston (1.79 million) were the nation’s five largest dioceses, according to statistics reported to the Directory’s publisher by the dioceses themselves.