Diocese of Odesa-Simferopol Dioecesis Odesensis-Sympheropolitanus Одесько-Сімферопольська дієцезія | |
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Location | |
Country | Ukraine |
Ecclesiastical province | Lviv |
Metropolitan | Archdiocese of Lviv |
Coordinates | 46°28′49″N 30°44′21″E / 46.4804°N 30.7391°E |
Statistics | |
Area | 138,000 km2 (53,000 sq mi) |
Population - Total - Catholics | (as of 2013) 9,980,000 33,000 (0.3%) |
Information | |
Denomination | Catholic Church |
Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
Rite | Roman Rite |
Established | 4 May 2002 |
Cathedral | Кафедральний собор Успіння Пресвятої Діви Марії Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Odesa |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Bishop | Stanislav Shyrokoradiuk, O.F.M. |
Metropolitan Archbishop | Mieczysław Mokrzycki |
Auxiliary Bishops | Jacek Pyl, O.M.I. |
Map | |
Location of the Diocese of Odesa-Simferopol |
The Diocese of Odesa-Simferopol ( Latin: Odesensis-Sympheropolitanus) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southern Ukraine and Crimea. [1] A significant part of the Latin Church in Ukraine, it covers an area equivalent to about one-third the size of Poland including areas impacted by 2014 Crimean crisis, and the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine. [1] Since 2014, there has been a de facto inter-state border that splits the diocese.
Bronislaw Bernacki is the current bishop of the diocese. He was appointed to the See of Odesa-Simferopol in May 2002 and is based in Odesa. Jacek Pyl is an auxiliary bishop and is based in Simferopol. [1]
The history of the diocese begins in 2002, when the diocese of Odesa-Simferopol was erected from the Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyi. The diocese's "basic work" began about the time of the Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. [1]
Auxiliary bishop Pyl described the diocese in 2014 as “missionary territory” with “many challenges.” [1] He reported that there were about 64 priests and 3,000 faithful in the diocese. [1] In 2014, in Crimea there were seven parishes and 13 priests and masses were celebrated mainly in Russian but also in English, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Polish. [1]
As of 2014, Simferopol does not have a co-cathedral. [1] “We have been waiting for the last 20 years to get permission to build a church,” Bishop Pyl is quoted as saying. [1] Plans for a co-cathedral had been underway but were put on hold following Russian annexation of Crimea. [1]
The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lviv of the Latins.