metropolitan
Greek: metropolis, city
An archbishop who is placed over a certain section of a country, comprising a certain number of suffragan dioceses. Every metropolitan is an archbishop, but not every archbishop is a metropolitan. The metropolitan has all the rights of a bishop in his diocese, and has the authority to
- call a provincial council, and preside over it
- preach in any church in his district
- grant an indulgence of 100 days
- exercise the right of devolution
He also enjoys the following honorary rights
- precedence over bishops
- to have the archiepiscopal cross carried before him throughout his province
- use of the pallium in his province
When the term is used for a diocese, it means that its metropolitan is the head of its province.