The Archdiocese of Anchorage–Juneau () is an ecclesiastical territory of the Roman Catholic Church that covers the southern part of the state of Alaska in the United States. The archdiocese is led by an archbishop who serves as pastor of both Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral in Anchorage and the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Juneau. The archdiocese is a metropolitan see, with a single suffragan diocese, the Diocese of Fairbanks. The archdiocese was erected in 2020 when Pope Francis merged the former Archdiocese of Anchorage with the former Diocese of Juneau. History Early history John Althoff, a young Dutch priest of the Canadian Diocese of Vancouver Island, established the first permanent Catholic presence in Alaska, then a U.S. territory. His superior, Bishop Charles J. Seghers, sent Althoff to Wrangell, Alaska, to serve that town, the Cassiar mining district on the Stikine River, and the former Russian capital of Sitka. Althoff founded Saint Rose of Lima Parish in Wrangell, Alaska, on May 3, 1879. On visits to Sitka, he would celebrate Mass in an old Russian carriage barn. After the discovery of gold near Juneau, Althoff moved his mission there. He celebrated the first mass and baptism in an interdenominational "Log Cabin Church" on July 17, 1882. The Alaska missions continued to expand as more missionaries arrived in the region. On July 27, 1894, Pope Leo XIII erected the Prefecture Apostolic of Alaska in Juneau, encompassing the entire territory of Alaska from the Diocese of Vancouver Island and the Diocese of New Westminster. On December 22, 1916, Pope Benedict XV elevated the prefecture apostolic to a vicariate apostolic. He appointed Joseph Crimont, the prefect apostolic of Alaska, as its vicar apostolic on February 15,1917. The vicariate received its first bishop when Crimont was consecrated on July 25, 1917. Initial formation Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Juneau on June 23, 1951. The new diocese was carved out of the former Vicariate Apostolic of Alaska. Pius XII designated the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Juneau as the cathedral for the new diocese. On October 3, 1951, Dermot O'Flanagan was consecrated as the first bishop of Juneau. Separation During the second half of the 20th century, Alaska's population and business growth centered around Anchorage, even though Juneau remained the state's capital. In recognition of these changes, on January 22, 1966, Pope