An auxiliary bishop is a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

. Auxiliary bishops can also be

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

s of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions.

Roman Catholicism

In 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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, auxiliary

bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

exist in both the

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

and in the

Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

. The particular duties of an auxiliary bishop are given by the diocesan bishop and can vary widely depending on the auxiliary bishop, the ordinary, and the needs of the diocese. In a larger archdiocese, they might be assigned to serve a portion of the archdiocese (sometimes called

deaneries A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a ...

, regions, or vicariates) or to serve a particular population such as immigrants or those of a particular heritage or language. Canon law recommends that the diocesan bishop appoint an auxiliary bishop as

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

of the diocese. In May 2017,

Gregorio Rosa Chávez Gregorio Rosa Chávez (; born 3 September 1942) is a Salvadoran Catholic prelate who served as Auxiliary Bishop of San Salvador from 1982 to 2022. He was a close collaborator of St. Óscar Romero. Pope Francis made Rosa a cardinal on 28 June ...

was one of the first Roman Catholic auxiliary bishops to be appointed as cardinal. At that time, he was auxiliary bishop of

José Luis Escobar Alas José Luis Escobar Alas (born 10 March 1959) is a Salvadoran Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of San Salvador since 2009. Escobar served as Bishop of San Vicente beginning in 2005, prior to his elevation to San Salvador on 27 D ...

, the Archbishop of San Salvador (who was not elevated).

Eastern Orthodoxy

Eastern Orthodox Churches The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

, auxiliary bishops are also called ''vicarian bishops'' or simply ''vicar bishops''. In the

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...

, the office of auxiliary (vicar) bishop is entrusted to titular bishops, who are assigned with assisting diocesan bishops in various aspects of diocesan administration. The Greek word ''

protosyncellus A protosyncellus, protosynkellos or protosyngel () is the principal deputy of the bishop of an eparchy for the exercise of administrative authority in an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic church. The equivalent position in the Western Chris ...

'' defines an auxiliary bishop who has been elevated to the dignity of vicarian of another titular bishop, and who is assigned to assist and act on behalf of his episcopal authority over the jurisdiction of the

episcopal see An episcopal see is 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, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

. For example,

Teodosije Šibalić Bishop Teodosije (, secular name Živko Šibalić, born 29 June 1963) is a Serbian Bishop of Raška-Prizren within Serbian Orthodox Church. He was born in Čačak, Central Serbia. Biography After finishing theology in the Faculty of Theology ...

(titular

bishop of Lipljan Eparchy of Lipljan, later known as the Eparchy of Gračanica or the Eparchy of Novo Brdo () is one of the former historical Eastern Orthodox eparchies of Serbian Orthodox located in the central parts of Kosovo region. It is now part of Eparchy ...

) was appointed auxiliary bishop to the

Eparchy of Raška and Prizren Eparchy of Raška and Prizren is one of the oldest eparchy, eparchies of the Serbian Orthodox Church, featuring the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Patriarchate of Peć (monastery), Serbian Patriarchal Monastery of Peć, as well as Serb ...

in 2004.

References

External links

USCCB – Appointing Bishops

{{Authority control Bishops by type Catholic ecclesiastical titles Episcopacy in the Catholic Church Episcopacy in Eastern Orthodoxy