The Diocese of Copenhagen is a

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Jo ...

ecclesiastical territory or

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

named after its

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

, the Danish national capital,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

and covers all

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. As in neighbouring provinces, none of the pre-

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

bishoprics were re-established after

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

ism became the new official state church in the 16th century). The diocese also covers two Danish overseas possessions, the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

and

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

. It is estimated that 36,000 (0.7%) out of the 5,516,597 inhabitants of the diocesan territory are Catholics. The current

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

, appointed in 1995, is Czeslaw Kozon. His predecessor, bishop Hans Ludvig Martensen, S.J., served in the position from 1965 to 1995, when he resigned the post. The principal church of the diocese is St. Ansgar's Cathedral. The former Dioceses of Ribe and

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

were the former provincial dioceses, that have since been subsumed into the diocese of Copenhagen. The Diocese of Copenhagen is exempt immediately to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

. It was established on August 7, 1868 as the

Vicariate Apostolic of the Northern Missions The Vicariate Apostolic of Northern Germany ( la, Vicariatus Apostolicus Germaniae Septentrionalis), known for most of its existence as the Vicariate Apostolic of the Northern (or Nordic) Missions ( la, Vicariatus Apostolicus Missionum Septentrio ...

. In 1869, it was demoted as the

Apostolic Prefecture An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of Denmark. On March 15, 1892, it was again promoted as the Vicariate Apostolic of Denmark. Only on April 29, 1953 it was promoted as the regular, post-missionary diocese of Copenhagen.

Bishops of the Diocese

*The Rev. Hermann Grüder (Prefect of Denmark: 1869–1883) *The Most Rev. Johannes Von Euch (Prefect of Denmark: 1883–1894; Vicar Apostolic of Denmark: 1894–1922) *The Most Rev. Josef Ludwig Brems, O.Praem (Vicar Apostolic of Denmark: 1922–1938) *The Most Rev.

Johannes Theodor Suhr Johannes Theodor Suhr, OSB (24 January 1896 in Nyborg – 10 March 1997) was a Danish Roman Catholic bishop and the second Danish Roman Catholic bishop since the Reformation. Early life and conversion to Roman Catholicism Johannes Theodor Suh ...

O.S.B. , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

(Vicar Apostolic of Denmark: 1939–1953; Bishop of Copenhagen: 1953–1964) *The Most Rev. Hans Ludvig Martensen, S.J. (Bishop of Copenhagen: 1965–1995) *The Most Rev. Czeslaw Kozon (Bishop of Copenhagen: 1995–current)

References

External links

Diocese of Copenhagen homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copenhagen, Roman Catholic Diocese of

Diocese of Copenhagen The Diocese of Copenhagen (Danish: ''Københavns Stift'') is a diocese within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark. The Bishop of Copenhagen is currently Peter Skov-Jakobsen, who replaced Erik Normann Svendsen in 2009. The main cathedral of ...

Roman Catholic dioceses in Nordic Europe

Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 19th century

Roman Catholic dioceses in Denmark

Bishops of the Diocese

See also

References

External links