Ordinariate for Eastern Catholic faithful
An ordinariate for the faithful of Eastern rite is a geographical ecclesiastical structure for Eastern Catholic communities in areas where no eparchy of their own particular Church has been established. This structure was introduced by the apostolic letter Officium supremi Apostolatus of 15 July 1912.[1]
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In the Annuario Pontificio the eight existing ordinariates of this kind are listed together with the fifteen (pre-diocesan) apostolic exarchates. Of these ordinariates, four (in Argentina, Brazil, France and Poland) are generically for all Eastern Catholics who lack a 'proper' diocesan jurisdiction of their own rite in the particular country and who are therefore entrusted to the care of a Latin Archbishop in the country. The one in Austria is for Catholics belonging to any of the fourteen particular Churches that use the Byzantine Rite. The other three (Ex-Soviet 'Eastern Europe', Greece and Romania) are exclusively for members of the Armenian Catholic Church.
Existing ordinariates
Ordinariate | Geographical area | Jurisdiction | Cathedral see | Ordinary | Date(s) of founding |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ordinariate for Eastern Catholics in Argentina | Argentina | All Eastern Catholics | now Buenos Aires | Metropolitan Archbishop of Buenos Aires | 1959-02-19 |
Ordinariate for Catholics of Byzantine Rite in Austria | Austria | Byzantine Rite Catholics | Vienna | vested in the Metropolitan Archbishop of Vienna | 1945-10-03 and 1956-06-13 |
Ordinariate for Eastern Catholics in Brazil | Brazil | All Eastern Catholics | presently Belo Horizonte | Metropolitan Archbishop of Belo Horizonte | 1951-11-14 |
Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Eastern Europe | only Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine | Armenian Rite Catholics | Gyumri (Armenia) | Armenian bishop of a titular see | 1991-07-13 |
Ordinariate for Eastern Catholics in France | France | All Eastern Catholics | Paris | vested in the Metropolitan Archbishop of Paris | 1954-06-16 |
Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Greece | Greece | Armenian Rite Catholics | Athens | vacant (under an apostolic administrator) | 1925-12-21 |
Ordinariate for Eastern Catholics in Poland | Poland | now Armenian Rite Catholics | now Warsaw | Metropolitan Archbishop of Warsaw | 1991-01-16 |
Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Romania | Romania | Armenian Rite Catholics | Gherla | vacant (under an apostolic administrator) | 1930-06-05 |
Ordinariate for Eastern Catholics in Spain | Spain | All Eastern Catholics | none yet | Metropolitan Archbishop of Madrid | 2016-06-09 |
Former ordinariates
- Ordinariate of the Albanians in Sicily (Italy, promoted to Italo-Albanese Catholic Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi)
- Ordinariate of Poland for Greek and Armenian Catholics, became the present all-rites Ordinariate for Eastern Catholics in Poland
See also
References
- Annuario Pontificio 2012 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2008 ISBN 978-88-209-8722-0), p. 1811