Does South Africa Have a Primatial See?

by Admin · September 16, 2025

The cathedral of St Mary’s in Toledo,the seat of the primate of Spain.

Question: I know that Armagh is Ireland’s primatial see, and its archbishop is known as the “Primate of all-Ireland”. How is that chosen, and does South Africa have a primatial see? Does an archdiocese headed by a cardinal have higher rank than other archdioceses?

Answer: A primatial see is a particular diocese or archdiocese that holds a special status within a country or region. The bishop of a primatial see is known as the primate.

Primatial sees are usually dioceses of the territories where the Church was first established in a particular country or region. That diocese need not be the country’s most populous. So, for example, in Ireland it is Armagh (not Dublin), in Spain it’s Toledo (not Madrid), in France it’s Lyon (not Paris), in the United States it’s Baltimore (not New York).

Not every region within the Catholic Church has a primatial see. Southern Africa has none. The archdiocese of Cape Town is known as the region’s “mother church”, but that is not an official Church title.

The honour of a primatial see is mostly symbolic. Its bishop, as the primate, may be the highest-ranking bishop in the country and enjoy privileges in protocol, but he has no authority by virtue of that title over other territories (though he might have certain canonical responsibilities as a metropolitan archbishop). He may, however, have the honorary right of precedence in protocols and other privileges, such as to crown the sovereign in a monarchy.

Canon Law notes: “The titles of patriarch and primate entail no power of governance in the Latin Church apart from a prerogative of honour unless in some matters the contrary is clear from apostolic privilege or approved custom” (438).

An archdiocese headed by a cardinal may have a higher profile due to his status, and if it is a “cardinalate see” — one whose bishop traditionally may expect to be made a cardinal — it may enjoy a certain measure of honour, but it has no precedence or privileges or authority over other archdioceses.

All archdioceses are equal in rights and privileges. Each operates within its own jurisdiction, and the authority of an archbishop — even if he is a cardinal — is primarily confined to his own archdiocese and its suffragan dioceses.

Asked and answered in the July 2025 issue of The Southern Cross