Diocese of Rome

The Diocese of Rome is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church under the direct jurisdiction of the pope, who is Bishop of Rome and hence the supreme pontiff and head of the worldwide Catholic Church. As the Holy See, the papacy is a sovereign entity with diplomatic relations, and it has civil jurisdiction over Vatican City. The Diocese of Rome consists of two geographical jurisdictions: the Vicariate of Rome, and the small Vicariate of Vatican City. It is the metropolitan diocese of the Province of Rome, an ecclesiastical province in the Ecclesiastical Region of Lazio in Italy. According to Catholic tradition, the first bishop of Rome was Saint Peter during the first century.