Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Loreto
The Territorial Prelature of Loreto () is a Roman Catholic territorial prelature which was elevated to this status on 24 June 1965. The Holy House of Loreto is located in it. The metropolitan see is the Archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo and the rite is Latin (or Roman). It covers with an address at: Piazza della Madonna 1, 60025 Loteto [Ancona], Italia. The total population is 11,537 of which 96.2% are Catholic. Serving Loreto are two secular priests, 48 religious priests for a total 50. There is approximately one priest for every 222 persons. History. Since  the fifteenth century, and possibly even earlier, the "Holy House" of Loreto has been numbered among the most famous shrines of Italy. Loreto is a small town a few miles south of Ancona and near the sea. Its most conspicuous building is the basilica. This dome-crowned edifice, which with its various annexes took more than a century to build and adorn under the direction of many famous artists, serves merely as the setting of a tiny cottage standing within the basilica itself. Though the rough walls of the little building have been raised in height and are cased externally  in richly sculptured marble, the interior measures only 31 feet by 13. An altar stands at one end beneath a statue, blackened with age, of the Virgin Mother and her Divine Infant. As the inscription, "Hic Verbum caro factum est", reminds us, this building is honoured by Christians as the veritable cottage at Nazareth in which the Holy Family lived, and the Word became incarnate.