The Catholic Church in Moldova is part of the worldwide

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, under the spiritual leadership of the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

History

In 1227 the current territory of Moldova joined the Diocese of Milkova, formed by

Pope Gregory IX Pope Gregory IX ( la, Gregorius IX; born Ugolino di Conti; c. 1145 or before 1170 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decre ...

. After the Mongol invasion, the Diocese of Milkova ceased to exist. In 1370,

Pope Urban V Pope Urban V ( la, Urbanus V; 1310 – 19 December 1370), born Guillaume de Grimoard, was the head of the Catholic Church from 28 September 1362 until his death in December 1370 and was also a member of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was the ...

formed the

Diocese of Siret The Roman Catholic Diocese of Siret was a Latin bishopric in medieval Moldavia. Antecedents Since the 13th century, missionaries of the mendicant orders, Franciscans and Dominicans, created several Latin Catholic communities in present Romania, ...

, which also included Moldavia. In 1413, the

Diocese of Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; hu, Nagybánya; german: Frauenbach or Groß-Neustadt; la, Rivulus Dominarum) is a municipality along the Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramureș ...

was founded, 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 27 April 1883

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

established the Diocese of Iași in Romania, which included most of the current territory of Moldova. In the diocese were active

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

who established numerous religious, educational and charitable institutions. North Moldavia was in the Diocese of Kamenetz-Podolsk. On 3 July 1848, after the concordat between the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, the Diocese of Tiraspol was formed, whose cathedra at first was in Kherson, then was moved to

Tiraspol Tiraspol or Tirișpolea ( ro, Tiraspol, Moldovan Cyrillic: Тираспол, ; russian: Тира́споль, ; uk, Тирасполь, Tyraspol') is the capital of Transnistria (''de facto''), a breakaway state of Moldova, where it is the th ...

. Because of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

(1853-1856), its cathedra was transferred to Saratov, which was formed from the Tiraspol deanery, which included all of today's Moldova. After 1917, the Diocese of Iași had jurisdiction in Moldova. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Moldova was part of the Transnistria diocese. During the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

era, the Catholic Church in Moldavia was limited. Catholic parishes in Moldova since 1945 belonged to the

Archdiocese of Riga The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Riga is an archdiocese administered from the capital city of Riga in Latvia.Chișinău, which 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 28 October 1993, the Apostolic Administration of Moldova was established and on 27 October 2001 it was converted into the Diocese of Chişinău with direct submission 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 ...

. The first bishop of the diocese is Anton Coșa.

Statistics

In 2020, around 20,000 (0.56% of the total population) was Catholic. Catholics and Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-08
/ref> The country forms a single diocese, the Diocese of Chişinău. In 2020 Moldova had 27 priests and 24 nuns serving across 20 parishes. The cathedral of the diocese is the Cathedral of Divine Providence and the diocese publishes the religious periodical ''Good Advice''. The bishop in Moldova is Anton Coșa, a Romanian-born Catholic. Besides the Latin rite faithful it serves the Greek Catholics as well.https://catolicmold.md/page/parohia-greco-catolica-acoperamantul-maicii-domnului

References

Bibliography

*''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', Vol. 3, ed. Franciscans, Moscow, 2007, pp. 519, .

External links

*
Diocese of Chişinău
on Catholic Hierarchy {{DEFAULTSORT:Catholicism In Moldova

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

History

Statistics

See also

References

Bibliography

External links