Rite Latin Pope Francis Area 138,000 km² Auxiliary bishop Jacek Pyl Metropolitan archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki | Established 4 May 2002 Auxiliary Bishops Jacek Pyl Country Ukraine Bishop Bronislaw Bernacki | |
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Population
- Total
- Catholics (as of 2013)
9,980,000
33,000 (0.3%) Cathedral Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral, Odessa Ecclesiastical province Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lviv | ||
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Odessa-Simferopol (Latin: Odesensis-Sympheropolitanus) is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in southern Ukraine and it includes Russian-annexed Crimea. It covers an area about one-third the size of Poland including areas impacted by 2014 Crimean crisis, and the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine. There is now a de facto and hostile border splitting the diocese.
Contents
Bronislaw Bernacki is the current bishop of the diocese. He was appointed to the See of Odessa-Simferopol in May 2002 and is based in Odessa. Jacek Pyl is an auxiliary bishop and is based in Simferopol.
History
The history of the diocese begins in 2002, when the diocese of Odessa-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.
Auxiliary bishop Pyl described the diocese in 2014 as “missionary territory” with “many challenges.” He reported that there were about 64 priests and 3,000 faithful in the diocese. 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.
As of 2014, Simferopol does not have a co-cathedral. “We have been waiting for the last 20 years to get permission to build a church,” Bishop Pyl is quoted as saying. Plans for a co-cathedral had been underway but were put on hold following Russian annexation of Crimea.
Geography
The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lviv of the Latins.