Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the United States. It covers the City and County of San Francisco and the Counties of Marin and San Mateo. The Archdiocese of San Francisco was canonically erected on July 29, 1853, by Pope Pius IX and its cathedral is the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption.

The first church in the Archdiocese of San Francisco is older than the Archdiocese itself; Mission San Francisco de Asís was founded on June 29, 1776 by Franciscan Friars. The mission church that stands today was completed in 1791 and attached next door is Mission Dolores Basilica. The Franciscans who founded the mission also are credited with naming the City and County of San Francisco, and the entire region, after their patron, Saint Francis of Assisi.

From his installation on February 15, 2006 until the acceptance of his resignation on July 27, 2012, the archdiocese was led by Archbishop Emeritus George Hugh Niederauer, formerly the bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. The current auxiliary bishops of the archdiocese are William J. Justice and Robert W. McElroy. On July 27, 2012, the Holy See announced that it had accepted the retirement of Niederauer and appointed Salvatore J. Cordileone as new archbishop of San Francisco, installed on October 4, 2012, the patronal Feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption.

The See of San Francisco is administered by the Archbishop of San Francisco, who as metropolitan oversees the entire ecclesiastical province of San Francisco. Its suffragans include the Dioceses of Honolulu, Las Vegas, Oakland, Reno, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Jose, Santa Rosa, and Stockton.

San Francisco once included among its suffragans the former dioceses of Grass Valley, Roman Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego, Monterey, Monterey-Fresno, and Roman Catholic Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles.

The Chancellery Office of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, originally located in 1853 at California and Dupont Streets, moved in 1891 to 1100 Franklin Street, in 1955 re-located to 445 Church Street, near Mission Dolores. The present headquarters of the Archdiocese of San Francisco are located at One Peter Yorke Way, a short street in San Francisco named after Father Peter Yorke, an Irish-American Catholic priest. Peter Yorke Way and Starr King Way are off of Geary Street as it becomes Geary Boulevard.