Archdiocese of Los Angeles

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles (Latin: Archidiœcesis Angelorum in California, Spanish: Arquidiócesis de Los Ángeles) is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the southern part of California in the United States, The archdiocese contains the counties of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. The cathedral is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, and its present archbishop is José Horacio Gómez Velasco.

With over five million professing members and weekly liturgies celebrated in 32 languages, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is numerically the single largest and most ethnically diverse archdiocese in the United States.

The archbishop of Los Angeles also serves as metropolitan bishop of the suffragan dioceses within the Ecclesiastical Province of Los Angeles, which includes the dioceses of Fresno, Monterey, Orange, San Bernardino, and San Diego.

Spanish Franciscan missionaries established Spanish missions in the region during the 18th century, but they were abandoned by 1834. The Vatican established the diocese of the Two Californias in 1840, when the Los Angeles region was still part of Mexico. In 1848, Mexican California was ceded to the United States, and the American portion of the diocese was renamed the Diocese of Monterey. The diocese was renamed the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles in 1859, and the episcopal see was moved to Los Angeles upon the completion of the Cathedral of Saint Vibiana in 1876. Los Angeles split from Monterey to become the Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego in 1922. The diocese was split again in 1936 to create the Diocese of San Diego, and the Los Angeles was seen elevated to an archdiocese. The archdiocese's present territory was established in 1976, when Orange County was split off to establish the Diocese of Orange.

The sexual abuse scandal in the archdiocese resulted in a $880 million court settlement in 2024; bringing the total settlement payouts for the archdiocese to over $1.5 billion. Instances of sexual abuse within the archdiocese have been documented back to the 1930s, though instances from the 1970s through 1990s have been more highly publicized.