Diocese of Odesa-Simferopol
Dioecesis Odesensis-Sympheropolitanus
Одесько-Сімферопольська дієцезія
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| Location | |
| Country | Ukraine |
| Ecclesiastical province | Lviv |
| Metropolitan | Archdiocese of Lviv |
| Coordinates | 46°28′49″N 30°44′21″E / 46.4804°N 30.7391°E / 46.4804; 30.7391 |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 138,000 km2 (53,000 sq mi) |
| Population - Total - Catholics | (as of 2013) 9,980,000 33,000 (0.3%) |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 4 May 2002 |
| Cathedral | Кафедральний собор Успіння Пресвятої Діви Марії Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Odesa |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Bishop | Stanislav Shyrokoradiuk, O.F.M. |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Mieczysław Mokrzycki |
| Auxiliary Bishops | Jacek Pyl, O.M.I. |
| Map | |
 Location of the Diocese of Odesa-Simferopol | |
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]
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]
The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lviv of the Latins.
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| Latin Province of Lviv |
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| 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 |
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| Ukrainian Catholic Province of Ivano-Frankivsk |
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| Ukrainian Catholic Province of Ternopil – Zboriv |
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| International |
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| National |
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