Suburbicarian Diocese of Porto–Santa Rufina

The Diocese of Porto–Santa Rufina is a Latin suburbicarian diocese of the Diocese of Rome and a diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. It was formed from the union of two dioceses. The diocese of Santa Rufina was also formerly known as Silva Candida.

From 1967, the diocese has had both a titular cardinal bishop, and a resident bishop who handles the diocesan business.

Porto was in ancient times Portus, the chief harbour of Rome. It owes its origin to the port built by Claudius on the right of the Tiber, opposite Ostia. Trajan enlarged the basin, and in a short time there grew around it a city which eventually became independent of Ostia. Porto became a separate city in the 4th century. Between 337 and 341, a statue was erected by the ordo et populus civitatis Flaviae Constantinianae Portuensis.

It was near Porto that Julius Nepos compelled Emperor Glycerius to abdicate (474). During the Gothic War the town served the Goths (537 and 549) and the Byzantines (546–552) as a base of operations against Rome. In the 9th and 10th centuries it was sacked on several occasions by the Saracens. In 849 Pope Leo IV fortified it and established there a colony of Corsicans for the defence of the coast and the neighbouring territory, but the city continued to decay.

Christianity was early established there. Several martyrs of Porto are known, including Herculanus, Hyacinthus, Martialis,^{[citation needed]} Saturninus Epictetus,^{[citation needed]} Maprilis^{[citation needed]} and Felix. The place was also famous as the probable see of St. Hippolytus (1st half on third century).

In 314 Gregorius was bishop. The great xenodochium, or hospice, of Pammachius was built about 398.

In 682, it is recorded that Pope Leo II was consecrated by the bishops of Ostia, Porto and Velletri (the See of Albano being vacant). The bishop of Porto was one of the seven (then six, when Porto was combined with Santa Rufina) episcopi hebdomadarii, who presided at the high altar of the Lateran Basilica in rotation during the weekdays; the system is first mentioned at the time of Pope Stephen III (768–772), though it was certainly much older.

On 1 August 1018, Pope Benedict VIII confirmed for Bishop Benedictus all the possessions of the church of Porto, which were named in detail and included not only the entire city of Porto, but also the Isola Lycaonia and the island with the church of S. Bartholomew, and the Transtiberine region of Rome; the grant included the complete rights over people's estates who died in his jurisdiction without an heir, or intestate, or involved in a legal situation.