The main religion in Uruguay is Roman Catholicism and has been since the foundation of the city. The city is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montevideo which was created as the Apostolic Vicariate of Montevideo in 1830. The vicariate was promoted to the Diocese of Montevideo on 13 July 1878. Pope Leo XIII elevated it to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese on 14 April 1897. The new archdiocese became the Metropolitan of the suffragan sees of Canelones, Florida, Maldonado�Punta del Este, Melo, Mercedes, Minas, Salto, San Jos� de Mayo, Tacuaremb�.
Montevideo is the only archdiocese in Uruguay and, as its Ordinary, the archbishop is also Primate of the Uruguayan Church. The archdiocese's mother church and thus seat of its archbishop is Catedral Inmaculada Concepci�n y San Felipe y Santiago. As of 2010, the current Archbishop of Montevideo is His Excellency Nicol�s Cotugno Fanizzi, SDB, since his appointment on 4 December 1998
