The Diocese of Odesa-Simferopol (Latin: Odesensis-Sympheropolitanus) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in southern Ukraine and Crimea.[1] A significant part of the Latin Church in Ukraine, it covers an area equivalent to about one-third the size of Poland including areas impacted by 2014 Crimean crisis, and the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine.[1] Since 2014, there has been a de facto inter-state border that splits the diocese.
Bronislaw Bernacki is the current bishop of the diocese. He was appointed to the See of Odesa-Simferopol in May 2002 and is based in Odesa. Jacek Pyl is an auxiliary bishop and is based in Simferopol.[1]
History
The history of the diocese begins in 2002, when the diocese of Odesa-Simferopol was erected from the Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyi. The diocese's "basic work" began about the time of the Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.[1]
Auxiliary bishop Pyl described the diocese in 2014 as “missionary territory” with “many challenges.”[1] He reported that there were about 64 priests and 3,000 faithful in the diocese.[1] In 2014, in Crimea there were seven parishes and 13 priests and masses were celebrated mainly in Russian but also in English, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Polish.[1]
As of 2014, Simferopol does not have a co-cathedral.[1] “We have been waiting for the last 20 years to get permission to build a church,” Bishop Pyl is quoted as saying.[1] Plans for a co-cathedral had been underway but were put on hold following Russian annexation of Crimea.[1]
Geography
The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lviv of the Latins.
Bishops
- Bishop Bronislaw Bernacki (4 May 2002 – 18 February 2020)[2]
- Auxiliary Bishop Petro Herkulan Malchuk, O.F.M. (29 March 2008 – 15 June 2011)
- Auxiliary Bishop Jacek Pyl, O.M.I. (23 November 2012 – )
- Coadjutor Bishop Stanislav Shyrokoradiuk, O.F.M. (2 February 2019 – 18 February 2020)[2]
- Bishop Stanislav Shyrokoradiuk (18 February 2020[2] – present)
See also
Footnotes
External links
(Bold = Metropolitan) | |
| Latin Province of Lviv | |
| Eastern Catholic sui iuris |
/ exempt Armenian Catholic Ordinariate of Eastern Europe, directly dependent on the Holy See
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| Ukrainian Catholic Province of Lviv | |
| Ukrainian Catholic Province of Ivano-Frankivsk | |
| Ukrainian Catholic Province of Ternopil – Zboriv | |
| International | |
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| National | |
