{{{1}}} The Diocese of Columbus (Latin: Dioecesis Columbensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church covering 23 counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The episcopal see of the diocese is situated at Columbus. The diocese was erected on March 3, 1868, by Pope Pius IX out of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. On October 21, 1944, the diocese lost territory when Pope Pius XII erected the Diocese of Steubenville. The Diocese of Columbus is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Cincinnati.