Editing Arqa (section)

==Ecclesiastical history==
Arca in Phoenicia became the seat of a Christian bishop in the [[Roman province]] of [[Phoenicia Prima]], a [[suffragan]] of the capital's [[Metropolitan see|metropolitan]] [[see of Tyre]].
 
Of its bishops, Lucianus professed the faith of the [[First Council of Nicaea]] at a synod held in [[Antioch]] in 363, Alexander was at the [[First Council of Constantinople]] in 381, Reverentius became archbishop of Tyre, Marcellinus was a participant at the [[Council of Ephesus]] in 431, Epiphanius took part in a synod at Antioch in 448, and Heraclitus participated in the [[Council of Chalcedon]] in 451 and was a signatory of the letter that the bishops of the province of Syria Phoenicia sent in 458 to [[Byzantine Emperor]] [[Leo I the Thracian]] to protest about the murder of [[Proterius of Alexandria]].<ref>Michel Lequien, [https://books.google.com/books?id=86weAemI-e4C ''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus''], Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 823-826</ref><ref>Konrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', vol. 7, p.&nbsp;86</ref><ref>Pius Bonifacius Gams, [http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=65154&dirids=1 ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626233439/http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=65154&dirids=1 |date=26 June 2015 }}, Leipzig 1931, p.&nbsp;434</ref>

No longer a residential bishopric, Arca in Phoenicia is today listed by the [[Catholic Church]] as a [[titular see]],<ref>''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 837</ref> in two traditions: Latin and Maronite ([[Eastern Catholic]], [[Antiochian Rite]] in [[Syriac language|Syriac]]).

===Latin titular see===
The nominally restored diocese has had non-consecutive titular bishops as a Latin Catholic [[titular bishopric]] since the 18th century.

It is vacant, having had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank :
* Pedro del Cañizo Losa y Valera (1726.09.21 – ?)
* Józef Krystofowicz (1809.03.28 – 1816.02.26)
* Francisco de Sales Crespo y Bautista (1861.12.23 – 1875.07.05)
* Pierre-Marie Le Berre, [[Holy Ghost Fathers]] (C.S.Sp.) (1877.09.07 – 1891.07.16)
* [[Claude Marie Dubuis]] (1892.12.16 – 1895.05.22)
* [[Alfredo Peri-Morosini]] (1904.03.28 – 1931.07.27)
* [[Jean-Édouard-Lucien Rupp]] (1954.10.28 – 1962.06.09) as [[Auxiliary Bishop]] of France of the Eastern Rite (France) (1954.10.28 – 1962.06.09), later Exempt Bishop of the then [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Monaco|diocese of Monaco]] (Monaco) (1962.06.09 – 1971.05.08), [[Apostolic Pro-Nuncio]] (papal diplomatic envoy) to [[Iraq]] (1971.05.08 – 1978); later [[Titular Archbishop]] of [[Dionysiopolis]] (1971.05.08 – 1983.01.28), Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to [[Kuwait]] (1975 – 1978), [[Permanent Observer]] to [[Office of the United Nations and Specialized Institutions in Geneva]] (UNOG) (1978 – 1980)
* [[Hugo Aufderbeck]] (1962.06.19 – 1981.01.17)

===Maronite titular see===
Established as Titular Episcopal See of '''Arca''' (Arca dei Maroniti in Curiate Italian); promoted in 1933 as Titular Archiepiscopal See of '''Arca in Armenia''', in 1941 suppressed, but restored in 1950 as Titular Episcopal See of Arca in Phoenicia.

It has had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank :
* Abdallah Nujaim (1950.07.25 – 1954.04.04)
* [[Bishop-elect]] [[João Chedid]], [[Mariamite Maronite Order]] (O.M.M., Aleppians) (1956.05.04 – 1956.05.04), as [[Auxiliary Bishop]] of [[Brazil of the Eastern Rite]] (Brazil) ([1956.04.21] 1956.05.04 – 1971.11.29), later Bishop of [[Nossa Senhora do Líbano em São Paulo of the Maronites]] (Brazil) (1971.11.29 – 1988.02.27), [[Archbishop-Bishop]] of Nossa Senhora do Líbano em São Paulo of the Maronites (1988.02.27 – 1990.06.09)
* [[Roland Aboujaoudé]] (1975.07.12 – ...), Auxiliary Bishop emeritus of [[Antioch of the Maronites]] (Lebanon)