The Apostolic Administration of the Caucasus ( la, Administratio Apostolica Caucasi Latinorum) is an

apostolic administration An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

(pre-diocesan jurisdiction) of the

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 Joh ...

in the

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 ...

, established in 1993, with headquarters in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

, capital of Georgia. It is exempt, i.e. directly subject to the Holy See, and to its

Roman Congregation for the Oriental Churches The Dicastery for the Eastern Churches (also called Dicastery for the Oriental Churches), previously named Congregation for the Oriental Churches or Congregation for the Eastern Churches ( la, Congregatio pro Ecclesiis Orientalibus), is a dicaste ...

, not part of any ecclesiastical province. Since 1996, Giuseppe Pasotto is the founding Apostolic Administrator of the Caucasus.

History

The Apostolic Administration of the Caucasus was erected on 30 December 1993, during the pontificate of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

by the decree Quo aptius of the Congregation for Bishops. The decree Quo aptius of 30 December 1993, published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis (AAS), vol. LXXXVI [ archive (1994), No. 4 (April 11, 1994), p. 376 (accessed June 9, 2013)] to pastorally cover Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, a territory split off from the Apostolic Administration of European Russia. On 11 October 2000, it lost jurisdiction over Azerbaijan, which was transferred to the newly erected then Mission sui iuris of Baku, which soon was promoted to Apostolic prefecture. It enjoyed papal visits by

(July 1999, November 1999 and September 2001) and

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

(June, September and October 2016).

Cathedral see

The

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

episcopal see of the Apostolic Administration is the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin in Tbilisi (capital of Georgia), dedicated to the

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

Territory

The Apostolic Administration of the Caucasus pastorally serves Catholics of the Roman Rite of the whole of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

(including

Adjara Adjara ( ka, აჭარა ''Ach’ara'' ) or Achara, officially known as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara ( ka, აჭარის ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა ''Ach’aris Avt’onomiuri Resp’ublik’a'' ...

), and the partially recognized states of

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

and

South Ossetia South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...

. Catholics of Armenian rite of the

Armenian Catholic Church , native_name_lang = hy , image = St Elie - St Gregory Armenian Catholic Cathedral.jpg , imagewidth = 260px , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Saint Elias and Saint Gregory the Illuminat ...

, one of the

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

of the Catholic Church, are however within the

Ordinariate of Eastern Europe An ordinariate for the faithful of Eastern rite is a geographical ecclesiastical structure for Eastern Catholic communities in areas where no eparchy of their own particular Church has been established. This structure was introduced by the apostol ...

, which is headquartered in Gyumri, Armenia.

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 50,000 Catholics in 11 parishes with 23 priests (15 diocesan, 8 religious), 41 lay religious (13 brothers, 28 sisters) and 4 seminarians.

Episcopal ordinaries

* Giuseppe Pasotto,

Stigmatines The Stigmatines officially named the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata ( la, Congregatio a Sanctus Stigmatibus) is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men (Priests and Brothers). The Stigmatine Congregation was fo ...

(C.S.S.) (1996.11.29 – ...),

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 ...

of Musti (1999.11.09 – ...), born 1954.07.06 in Italy, ordained Priest 1979.05.12, consecrated Bishop 2000.01.06

References

Sources and external links

GCatholic, with Google map

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caucasus, Apostolic Administration Apostolic administrations Catholic Church in Georgia (country) Catholic Church in Armenia