[2] On April 20, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI named Thomas J. Paprocki as the ninth bishop of Springfield in Illinois.

[3] The Diocese of Springfield in Illinois comprises the following counties: Adams, Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Christian, Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Greene, Jasper, Jersey, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Menard, Moultrie, Montgomery, Morgan, Pike, Sangamon, Scott, and Shelby.

[6] The diocese operates campus ministry centers at the following institutions:[7] During the 17th century, present day Illinois was part of the French colony of New France.

It was estimated that 15,000 to 20,000 Native American converts and French trappers and settlers throughout the Illinois region were tended to by these Jesuit missionaries.

[8] After the British took control of New France in 1763, the Archdiocese of Quebec retained jurisdiction over missions in the Illinois area.

After the American Revolution ended in 1783, Pope Pius VI erected in 1784 the Prefecture Apostolic of the United States, encompassing the entire territory of the new nation.

At the time of Juncker's arrival, the diocese contained 58 churches, 30 mission stations, 18 priests, and 50,000 Catholics.

[15] Needing more priests, he traveled to Europe in 1857 to recruit them from France, Germany, Ireland and Italy for his diocese.

During his visit to Red Bud, Juncker heard confession from 1,000 Catholics and received a donation of land from a Protestant businessman for a new church.

When the Union Army opened a medical camp for wounded soldiers in Cairo, Illinois, he sent priests and nuns there to provide support.

[24] After Baltes died in 1886, Pope Leo XIII appointed James Ryan from the Diocese of Peoria as the third bishop of Alton.

During his tenure as bishop, Griffin erected 51 new churches, schools, convents and charitable institutions; the total cost spent in his first ten years was close to $6.5 million.

He hosted the first Midwest Regional Meeting of the St. Vincent de Paul Society to be held in downstate Illinois, and in 1978 appointed the first nun to the position of superintendent of Catholic schools.

In 1999, Pope John Paul II appointed George Lucas of St. Louis as bishop of Springfield in Illinois.

Lucas spearheaded the Built in Faith campaign to raise the $11 million needed to restore the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

[32] In 1985, after receiving complaints from a parishioners, police arrested Alvin J. Campbell, pastor of St. Maurice Church in Morrisonville on charges of sexually abusing a minor.

Before Weerts' sentence, Bishop Ryan asked the court to grant him probation, attesting to his fine behavior.

He also claimed that Ryan himself was guilty of numerous sexual affairs with male prostitutes and priests, creating a poisoned atmosphere.

[38][39] Having continued to confer confirmation and celebrate mass after his resignation as bishop in 1999, Ryan agreed in 2004 to suspend his public ministry.

In its report, the Special Panel on Clergy Misconduct declared that Ryan "engaged in improper sexual conduct and used his office to conceal his activities".

Ryan also fostered "a culture of secrecy...that discouraged faithful priests from coming forward with information about misconduct" by other clergy in the diocese.

[43] The same allegations were raised again in 2021 in a lawsuit by Anthony J. Gorgia, a former seminarian, against the Pontifical North American College in Rome and the Archdiocese of New York.

[43] In July 2004, Lucas approved a $1.2 million settlement to eight men who had been sexually abused as minors by Walter Weerts.