Pope Benedict XIV suppresses the Patriarchate of Aquileia and establishes from its territory the Archdiocese of Udine and Gorizia.

Pope Benedict XIV, born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758.

The Patriarchate of Aquileia was an episcopal see and ecclesiastical province in northeastern Italy, originally centered in the ancient city of Aquileia, situated near the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It emerged in the 4th century as a metropolitan province, with jurisdiction over the Italian region of Venetia et Histria. In the second half of the 6th century, metropolitan bishops of Aquileia started to use the patriarchal title. Their residence was moved to Grado in 568, after the Lombard conquest of Aquileia. In 606, an internal schism occurred, and since that time there were two rival lines of Aquileian patriarchs: one in New Aquileia (Grado) with jurisdiction over the Byzantine-controlled coastal regions, and the other in Old Aquileia. The first line (Grado) continued until 1451, while the second line continued until 1751. Patriarchs of the second line were also feudal lords of the Patriarchal State of Aquileia. A number of Aquileian church councils were held during the late antiquity and throughout the middle ages. Today, it is a titular archiepiscopal see.

In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.

Udine is a city and comune (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Regional decentralization entity of Udine. As of 2025, it has a population of 98,320 in the commune, and 176,000 with the urban area.