Ordinariate (administrative unit)
An ordinariate is an ecclesiastical administrative unit that is equal to the particular church and has territorial or personal jurisdiction in the Roman Catholic Church and some Anglican churches . In contrast to the diocese , however, an ordinariate is not a bishopric . The ordinary can be a bishop (either a titular bishop or a diocesan bishop with an additional function), but a priest can also exercise jurisdiction in the area of the ordinary as its head.
In the Roman Catholic Church there is the ordinariate for the believers of the Eastern rite for members of an Eastern rite church in an area without its own hierarchy of this church, the military ordinariate for members of the armed forces of a state and the personal ordinariate for believers and congregations with an Anglican or Episcopal tradition who carry on their special Anglican heritage in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope . All ordinariates are exempted and directly subordinate to the Holy See .
