Rite Latin Rite Pope Francis Suffragans Koper
Novo Mesto Phone +386 1 234 26 00 Cathedral Ljubljana Cathedral | Established 6 December 1461 Metropolitan Archbishop Stanislav Zore, OFM Area 6,134 km² Country Slovenia Emeritus bishops Alojz Uran, Anton Stres | |
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Population
- Total
- Catholics (as of 2013)
776,336
554,417 (71.4%) Address Ciril-Metodov trg 4, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia Auxiliary bishops Anton Jamnik, Franc Šuštar Similar Ljubljana Cathedral, Župnijska cerkev sv Petra, Cerkev Marijinega oznanjenja, Sv Jernej, Župnijska cerkev sv Jakoba | ||
The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ljubljana (Slovene: Nadškofija Ljubljana, Latin: Archidioecesis Labacensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia.
Contents
The Archdiocese
The archdiocese's motherchurch and thus seat of its archbishop is the Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Ljubljana; it also contains minor basilicas in Brezje and Stična. The See of Ljubljana had been vacant, its former archbishop was, until his 2013 resignation, Anton Stres, who was appointed Archbishop of Ljubljana, and thus Primate of Slovenia, by Pope Benedict XVI on 28 November 2009. On Saturday, 4 October 2014, Pope Francis appointed the Reverend Father P. Stane Zore, OFM, as Archbishop-elect of the Archdiocese of Ljubljana, who until then had been serving for a second time as Minister Provincial of his order and as Chairman of the Conference of Men and Women Religious in Slovenia (KORUS). He will be ordained and installed as Archbishop in the near future.
History
From 811, the territory of the Ljubljana Archdiocese was part of the ecclesiastical territory of the Patriarch of Aquileia. Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, erected on 6 December 1461 the Diocese of Laibach, which was confirmed six months later, on 6 September 1462, by Pope Pius II. Several days later, it was taken from the jurisprudence of the Aquileia and directly subjected to the Holy See. On 3 March 1787, it became an archdiocese and a metropolis, which it remained until 1807, when it was for political reasons degraded to a common diocese.
The Nazi persecution of the Church in annexed Slovenia was akin to that which occurred in Poland. Within six weeks of the Nazi occupation, only 100 of the 831 priests in the Diocese of Maribor and part of the Diocese of Ljubljana remained free. Clergy were persecuted and sent to concentration camps, religious Orders had their properties seized.
The diocese was again elevated to an archdiocese by Pope John XXIII on 22 December 1961, and to a metropolis by Pope Paul VI on 22 November 1968. Today the archdiocese has two suffragan sees, Koper (since 1977) and Novo Mesto (since 2006). It is the principal see of Slovenia; one living former archbishop, Franc Rode, CM, was promoted to a Curial office (Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life) and made a Cardinal, demonstrating the importance of this archdiocese and its archbishops.