Roman Catholicism in Greece
Encyclopedia
The Catholic Church in Greece is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope
and Curia
in Rome
.
Indigenous Catholic Greeks number about 50,000 and are a religious and not an ethnic minority. One very old but still common term used to refer to them is Φράγκοι, or "Franks", referring to the religion of Franks
and other Western Europeans during the Middle Ages, as opposed to practitioners of the Orthodox faith, who were called Ρωμαιοι, or "Romans" (due to the Byzantine Empire
being the successor state of the ancient Roman Empire
. Since the early 1990s however, the number of Catholic permanent residents of Greece, has continuously increased making the total number of Catholics in Greece more than 200,000. These Catholics are immigrants from Eastern Europe
, especially Poland
, or from the Philippines
. Many of the Germans
and French
that settled in the Greek Islands also follow the Roman Catholic faith.
In addition to the Catholics of the Latin Rite who represent the majority of the faithful, there are about 5,000 of the Greek Rite
, and a few hundred Armenian Catholics
.
The majority of Catholics are resident in Athens
, a city of about four million people, however Catholics can be found all over Greece. Most indigenous Catholics live in the Cyclades
, where Syros
and Tinos
have some entirely Catholic villages and parishes. There are also Catholics in Corfu
, Patras
, Thessaloniki
, Giannitsa
, Kavala
, Volos
, and more distant islands like Rhodes
, Kos
, Crete
, Naxos, Santorini
, Samos
, Chios
, Cefalonia
, Zante
, etc.
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
and Curia
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Indigenous Catholic Greeks number about 50,000 and are a religious and not an ethnic minority. One very old but still common term used to refer to them is Φράγκοι, or "Franks", referring to the religion of Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
and other Western Europeans during the Middle Ages, as opposed to practitioners of the Orthodox faith, who were called Ρωμαιοι, or "Romans" (due to the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
being the successor state of the ancient Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. Since the early 1990s however, the number of Catholic permanent residents of Greece, has continuously increased making the total number of Catholics in Greece more than 200,000. These Catholics are immigrants from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, especially Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, or from the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. Many of the Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
and French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
that settled in the Greek Islands also follow the Roman Catholic faith.
In addition to the Catholics of the Latin Rite who represent the majority of the faithful, there are about 5,000 of the Greek Rite
Greek Byzantine Catholic Church
The Greek Byzantine Catholic Church is a sui iuris particular Church in full union with the Roman Catholic Church which uses the Byzantine liturgical rite in the Koine Greek and modern Greek languages...
, and a few hundred Armenian Catholics
Armenian Catholic Church
|- |The Armenian Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church sui juris in union with the other Eastern Rite, Oriental Rite and Latin Rite Catholics who accept the Bishop of Rome as spiritual leader of the Church. It is regulated by Eastern canon law...
.
The majority of Catholics are resident in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, a city of about four million people, however Catholics can be found all over Greece. Most indigenous Catholics live in the Cyclades
Cyclades
The Cyclades is a Greek island group in the Aegean Sea, south-east of the mainland of Greece; and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands around the sacred island of Delos...
, where Syros
Syros
Syros , or Siros or Syra is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is located south-east of Athens. The area of the island is . The largest towns are Ermoupoli, Ano Syros, and Vari. Ermoupoli is the capital of the island and the Cyclades...
and Tinos
Tinos
Tinos is a Greek island situated in the Aegean Sea. It is located in the Cyclades archipelago. In antiquity, Tinos was also known as Ophiussa and Hydroessa . The closest islands are Andros, Delos, and Mykonos...
have some entirely Catholic villages and parishes. There are also Catholics in Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
, Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
, Giannitsa
Giannitsa
Giannitsa is the largest town and a former municipality in Pella regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pella, of which it is a municipal unit...
, Kavala
Kavala
Kavala , is the second largest city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala peripheral unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos...
, Volos
Volos
Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...
, and more distant islands like Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
, Kos
Kos
Kos or Cos is a Greek island in the south Sporades group of the Dodecanese, next to the Gulf of Gökova/Cos. It measures by , and is from the coast of Bodrum, Turkey and the ancient region of Caria. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Kos peripheral unit, which is...
, Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, Naxos, Santorini
Santorini
Santorini , officially Thira , is an island located in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from Greece's mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera...
, Samos
Samos Island
Samos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional...
, Chios
Chios
Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, seven kilometres off the Asia Minor coast. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. The island is noted for its strong merchant shipping community, its unique mastic gum and its medieval villages...
, Cefalonia
Kefalonia
The island of Cephalonia, also known as Kefalonia, Cephallenia, Cephallonia, Kefallinia, or Kefallonia , is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece, with an area of . It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit...
, Zante
Zakynthos
Zakynthos , also Zante, the other form often used in English and in Italian , is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. It covers an area of ...
, etc.
Bishops' Conference
The Bishops' Conference of Greece (Hiera Synodos Katholikis Hierarkhias Hellados) has six members:- The Archbishop of Corfu and Apostolic Administrator of Thessaloniki
- The Archbishop of Naxos and Tinos and Apostolic Administrator of Chios
- The Archbishop of Athens and Apostolic Administrator of Rhodes
- The Bishop of Syros and Santorini and Apostolic Administrator of Crete
- The Exarch of the Greek Catholics of Byzantine RiteGreek Byzantine Catholic ChurchThe Greek Byzantine Catholic Church is a sui iuris particular Church in full union with the Roman Catholic Church which uses the Byzantine liturgical rite in the Koine Greek and modern Greek languages...
(based in Athens) - The Ordinary of the Armenian CatholicsArmenian Catholic Church|- |The Armenian Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church sui juris in union with the other Eastern Rite, Oriental Rite and Latin Rite Catholics who accept the Bishop of Rome as spiritual leader of the Church. It is regulated by Eastern canon law...
(based in Athens)
Papal representatives to Greece
| Type Nuncio Nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word, Nuntius, meaning "envoy." This article addresses this title as well as derived similar titles, all within the structure of the Roman Catholic Church... |
Name | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Apostolic Nuncio | Luigi Gatti | 16 July 2009 - |
| Apostolic Nuncio | Patrick Coveney Patrick Coveney Patrick Coveney is a Roman Catholic Archbishop. He is the Apostolic Nuncio Emeritus to Greece.Coveney was born in Tracton, County Cork, Ireland, and was ordained, aged twenty-four, as a priest on 21 February 1959 by Cardinal Luigi Traglia... |
25 January 2005 - 16 July 2009 |
| Apostolic Nuncio | Paul Fouad Tabet Paul Fouad Tabet Paul Fouad Tabet was a Roman Catholic archbishop and apostolic nuncio.Born in Lebanon, Tabet was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on December 22, 1956, for the Maronite Church. On February 9, 1980, Pope John Paul II appointed Tabet Roman Catholic titular archbishop of Sinna. He was ordained bishop... |
2 January 1996 - 25 January 2005 |
| Apostolic Pro-Nuncio | Luciano Storero Luciano Storero Luciano Storero was born in Pinasca, Italy. He served in the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See.He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1949. On 22 November 1969 he was appointed Titular Archbishop of Tigimma and the same day was appointed an Apostolic Delegate... |
28 June 1990 - 15 November 1995 |
| Apostolic Pro-Nuncio | Giovanni Mariani | 25 April 1980 - 5 May 1990 |
| Apostolic Delegate | Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli | 12 January 1935 - 23 December 1944 |
| Apostolic Delegate | Carlo Margotti | 12 February 1931 - 25 July 1934 |
| Apostolic Delegate | Louis Petit | 4 March 1912 - 24 June 1926 |
| Apostolic Delegate | Antonio Delenda | 25 August 1900 - ? August 1911 |
| Apostolic Delegate | Giovanni Marango | 9 June 1874 - ? 1900 |
Organization
- Archdiocese of Athens
- Archdiocese of RhodosRoman Catholic Archdiocese of RhodesThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rhodes is an archdiocese located in the island of Rhodes in Greece.The former cathedral of "Our Lady of the Castle" was turned into a mosque during the Ottoman period and is now a museum.-Leadership:...
- Archdiocese of Corfù, Zante and Cefalonia
- Archdiocese of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and MykonosRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and MykonosThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and Mykonos is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Greece. The archdiocese is the metropolitan of the dioceses of Chios, Crete, Santorini and Syros and Milos....
- Diocese of ChiosRoman Catholic Diocese of ChiosThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Chios is a diocese located on the island of Chios in the Ecclesiastical province of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and Mykonos in Greece.-Leadership:* Bishops of Chios...
- Diocese of CreteRoman Catholic Diocese of CreteThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Crete is a diocese located on the island of Crete in the Ecclesiastical province of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and Mykonos in Greece.-History:* 1213: Established as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Candia...
- Diocese of SantoriniRoman Catholic Diocese of SantoriniThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Santorini is a diocese located in the city of Santorini in the Ecclesiastical province of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and Mykonos in Greece.-Leadership:* Bishops of Santorini...
- Diocese of Syros and MilosRoman Catholic Diocese of Syros e MilosThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Syros and Milos is a diocese located in the cities of Syros and Milos in the ecclesiastical province of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and Mykonos in Greece.-Leadership:* Bishops of Syros-Milos...
- Diocese of Chios