The Archdiocese of Denver () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church that encompasses northern Colorado. It is part of the XIII Conference Region and includes 113 parishes, 307 priests, and an estimated 550,000 lay Catholics. The seat of the archdiocese is the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception at 401 East Colfax Avenue. The current Archbishop of Denver is Samuel Aquila. The Archdiocese of Denver is the metropolitan archdiocese of its ecclesiastical province, which also includes three suffragan diocese: the Dioceses of Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. Area The archdiocese covers an area of which includes the city and county of Denver, and the Colorado counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Jefferson, Larimer, Logan, and Weld. Between the archdiocese's creation and the erection of the Diocese of Pueblo in 1941, the Archdiocese of Denver was the sole Latin Church jurisdiction in the state of Colorado. History The area that now comprises the Archdiocese of Denver was part of the Diocese of Santa Fe. In 1868, Pope Pius IX split territory from the Diocese of Santa Fe in New Mexico and the Diocese of Grass Valley in California to form the Vicariate Apostolic of Colorado and Utah. In 1870, he changed the name to the Vicariate Apostolic of Colorado, and transferred the territory of Utah to the Archdiocese of San Francisco. August 16, 1887, Pope Leo XIII created the Diocese of Denver, which covered the entire state of Colorado. On November 15, 1941, Pope Pius XII separated territory from the Diocese of Denver to form the Diocese of Pueblo and elevated the Denver Diocese to an archdiocese. On November 10, 1983, Pope John Paul II separated territory from both the Archdiocese of Denver and the Diocese of Pueblo to form the Diocese of Colorado Springs. On May 29, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Samuel Joseph Aquila of the Diocese of Fargo, North Dakota as fifth archbishop of Denver. Bishop James Conley served as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese from the departure of Archbishop Charles J. Chaput in September 2011 until the new Archbishop was installed July 18, 2012, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Reports of sex abuse In 1996, the priest John Stein, who was arrested for sex abuse charges in 1956, settled a sex abuse lawsuit on terms which were confidential. The man suing Stein accused Stein of molesting him hundreds