Catholic Church in Moldova

The Catholic Church in Moldova is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.

History

In 1227 the current territory of Moldova joined the diocese of Milkova, formed by Pope Gregory IX. After the Mongol invasion, Diocese of Milkova ceased to exist. In 1370, Pope Urban V formed diocese of Seret, which also included today Moldavia. In 1413 a diocese was founded in Baie, which lasted until the beginning of the 16th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, Moldova was part of the Apostolic Vicariate of Moravia. On April 27, 1883 Pope Leo XIII established the Roman Catholic Diocese of Iasi in Romania, which included most of the current territory of Moldova. In the diocese were active Jesuits who established numerous religious, educational and charitable institutions. North Moldavia was logged in Kamenetz-Podolsk diocese. On July 3, 1848 after the concordat between the Vatican and the Russian Empire was formed Diocese of Tiraspol (Russia), which Cathedra at first was in Kherson, then was moved to Tiraspol. Because of the Crimean War (1853-1856), its Cathedra was transferred to Saratov, which was formed after the Tiraspol deanery, which included all today's Moldova.[1]

After 1917, the territory of Moldova shall have jurisdiction in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Iasi. During World War II, Moldova was part Transnistria diocese. During the Soviet Union, the Catholic Church in Moldavia was limited. Catholic parishes in Moldova since 1945 belonged to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Riga. Before 1970, the territory of Moldova had only one Catholic church in Chisinau, who was at the local cemetery. In 1979, Soviet authorities had banned the only Catholic priest in Moldova. After the formation of an independent Moldova, on October 28, 1993 was established the Apostolic Administration of Moldova which on 27 October 2001 was converted into a diocese with direct submission to the Holy See. The first bishop of the Diocese of Chişinău is Anton Coșa.

Statistics

Around 0.5% of the total population (around 20,000 people) of the Republic of Moldova is Catholic and the country forms a single diocese, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chişinău. At present, Moldova has one Catholic diocese, 13 parishes, 11 diocesan priests, 13 regular priests, 22 monks and 43 nuns from various monastic orders. The diocese publishes the religious periodical Good Advice. The bishop in Moldova is Anton Coșa, a Romanian-born Catholic.

See also

References

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Bibliography

External links

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