The archdiocese is led by a prelate archbishop, who also serves as pastor of the mother church, the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta.

[3] The Vatican in 1784 created the Prefecture Apostolic of the United States, removing the small population of American Catholics from the jurisdiction of the church hierarchy in Great Britain.

[11] He also sent priests and nuns to Alabama to participate in the Selma to Montgomery marches with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Hallian encouraged Atlanta Catholics to open their neighborhoods "so Negroes can exercise the right of every American to live where he wishes.

"[11] During his six years as archbishop, Hallinan opened several churches and missions, as well as the John Lancaster Spalding Catholic Center at the University of Georgia.

At that time, many parents were pulling their children out of local public school systems due to opposition to racial desegregation.

[1] However, in August 1990 Vickie Long, a lay minister in the archdiocese, stated that she and Marino were married and had been in a sexual relationship for the previous two years.

[1] To replace Marino, John Paul II named Auxiliary Bishop James Lyke of the Diocese of Cleveland in 1991 as the next archbishop of Atlanta.

[19] The archdiocese in September 2003 sued the Capilla de la Fe (Chapel of the Faith) network of churches in Atlanta to bar them from claiming to be Catholic.

[21] In April 2004, Donoghue sent an edict to the priests in the archdiocese forbidding women from performing the traditional foot washing ceremony on Holy Thursday.

[22] When Donoghue retired in 2004, John Paul II appointed Bishop Wilton Gregory from the Diocese of Belleville as archbishop of Atlanta.

[30][31][32] Gregory said that carrying guns in churches places vulnerable individuals, such as children, the disabled, and the elderly, at risk.

[31][32] In 2014, Gregory was criticized after the archdiocese used $2.2 million from a bequest to build a new archbishop's residence in the Buckhead section of Atlanta.

[34][39][40] Later in 2014, the archdiocese sold the Buckhead property for $2.6 million, and Gregory moved into a more modest home, purchased for $440,000, in Smyrna.

[41] In 2018, a group of Catholics petitioned Gregory to remove the so-called "pro-LGBT" Monsignor Henry Gracz of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Atlanta from his position as a spiritual advisor to victims of sexual abuse.

[44] In 2021, a former archdiocesan employee, Mary Elkins, sued the archdiocese, claiming that she had been terminated due to age discrimination and her health issues.

The plaintiff accused Reverend Douglas Edwards of Saint Joseph's Catholic Church in Dalton of abusing him during the 1970s.

[50] A second review of sexual abuse allegations in the archdiocese was completed by the Prosecuting Attorney's Council of Georgia in March 2023.