Church own right (ecclesia sui iuris)
The 24 autonomous (“autonomous”) churches that together form the one Roman Catholic Church are referred to as the Church of its own right ( ecclesia sui iuris ) - called the Rite Church ( ecclesia ritualis ) in the CIC until 2016 . These include the Latin Church (Western Church) and the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches . The decreed renaming pursues the purpose of not restricting or concentrating the autonomy of these churches on the liturgy (" rite ").
An external characteristic of belonging to the Catholic Church is the recognition of the papal primacy , that is, the spiritual and legal leadership function in the Church by the Roman Pope. In principle, however, the latter only exercises patriarchal power over the Latin Church . The patriarchal and major archbishops of the Eastern Churches each have their own patriarchs or major archbishops with their own jurisdiction as heads .
Particular churches
The Eastern Churches belong to several ritual families; most use the Byzantine rite . In the Latin Church, the Roman rite is predominant.
According to the Annuario Pontificio , the Catholic Church has the following particular churches and rites:
Latin Church
The Latin Church is the largest and most important particular church with 2,664 bishoprics and 235 particular churches without a bishopric. As the bishop and metropolitan of Rome, the Pope is the head of the Latin Church. This also includes around 200 cardinals and 4800 bishops. The Roman rite is formative for this particular Church . In addition, there are also regional rites, more or less closely related to the Roman, according to local traditions , although most of them are only used to a limited extent as historical traditions. However, within the Latin Church no different Ecclesiae sui iuris can be distinguished. Rather, the Latin Church as a whole is on a par with the individual autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches.
- Ambrosian rite ( ecclesiastical province of Milan )
- Dominican rite
- Mozarabic Rite ( Church Province of Toledo )
- Gallican Rite ( Archdiocese of Lyon )
- Bracarensis rite ( Archdiocese of Braga )
- Rite zaïrois : since 1988 officially recognized special form of the Roman rite in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Roman Rite for Catholics of Anglican Tradition ( Anglican Use ): Used in parishes and the personal ordinariates for believers who come from an Anglican tradition.
Byzantine rite
The churches of the Byzantine rite are often referred to collectively as Greek-Catholic churches or Greek-Uniate or Byzantine-Catholic . The fact that “Greek” denotes the Byzantine rite has historical roots in the development of the Eastern Churches from the Greek-speaking primitive churches in the Eastern Roman Empire (in contrast to the “Latin” Church of the Western Roman Empire). It is also widespread to speak only of “Ukrainian-Catholic”, “Ruthenian-Catholic” etc., such as in the official regulations on religious affiliation in Austria .
- Patriarchal Church
- Melkite Greek Catholic Church (also called Melkite Catholic Church or Rum Catholic Church ): The patriarchal church, which is widespread in the Arab region of the Middle East, consists of 29 jurisdictions.
- Grand Archbishop Church
- Romanian Greek Catholic Church (also called Romanian Catholic Church ): It has spread mainly in Transylvania through Emperor Leopold I since 1693 and consists of 7 dioceses.
- Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (also called Ukrainian Catholic Church, Kyiver Catholic Church ). The largest eastern church of the Byzantine rite was created by the Brest Union of 1595/96. It consists of 26 dioceses with a bishopric and six particular churches without a bishopric.
- Metropolitan Church
- Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church (also known as the Ruthenian Church ): Established by the Union of Mukacheve in 1646 with its headquarters in Uzhhorod, but is predominantly found in the diaspora in the United States. It consists of five dioceses with a bishopric and the Apostolic Exarchate of the Czech Republic .
- Slovak Greek Catholic Church (also called Slovak Catholic Church ): Developed from the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church and consists of four dioceses.
- Hungarian Greek Catholic Church (also called Hungarian Catholic Church ; originated from the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, under construction)
- Church with its own hierarchy
- Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church (also called Bulgarian Catholic Church ): consists only of the Eparchy of St. John XXIII. in Sofia , which has around 10,000 believers.
- Greek Greek Catholic Church ( Greek Catholic in the narrower sense) was established in 1859 and 1860 through the union of Constantinople, Thrace and Macedonia in the Ottoman Empire. It consists of the Apostolic Exarchate Greece and the quasi-extinct Apostolic Exarchate Istanbul in Turkey.
- Italo-Albanian Church : The church in Italy, never separated from Rome, consists of the Territorial Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata , the Eparchy Lungro and the Eparchy Piana degli Albanesi .
originated from the Greek Catholic Church in the former Yugoslavia (founded in 1777 in Slavonia, and currently under construction):
- Byzantine Church in Croatia and Serbia : arose on November 21, 1611 through the establishment of the Marča eparchy and today consists of the Croatian diocese of Križevci (founded in 1777; parishes in Croatia , Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia ) and the Serbian eparchy of Saint Nikolaus Ruski Krstur ( emerged from the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, 2003 Apostolic Exarchate of Serbia and Montenegro , on January 19, 2013 all Greek Catholics in Montenegro were integrated into the Roman Catholic Church in Montenegro , so that the jurisdiction of the Apostolic Exarchate of Serbia and Montenegro is limited to Serbia was; 2013 Apostolic Exarchate Serbia , 2018 Eparchy Sankt Nikolaus Ruski Krstur )
- Macedonian Greek Catholic Church (emerged from the Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church in 1881, Apostolic Exarchate Macedonia in 2001 , elevated to the Eparchy of the Annunciation Strumica-Skopje in 2018)
- Church without its own hierarchy
The following do not represent particular churches in the strict sense, as no separate hierarchy has been established for them. Nevertheless, they each form a special ritual community.
- Albanian Greek Catholic Church : Founded in 1992, it consists only of the Apostolic Administration of Southern Albania , in which, however, mainly Latin clergy and the Latin rite can be found.
- Russian Greek Catholic Church : It is mentioned in the Annuario Pontificio , but there are neither appointed pastors nor a number of the faithful ( Apostolic Exarchate for Catholics of the Byzantine Rite in Russia , founded in 1917 and Apostolic Exarchate for the Russians of the Byzantine Rite and all Catholics of an Oriental Rite in China , 1928).
- Belarusian Greek Catholic Church (evolved from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church since 1991)
- former church
The Georgian Greek Catholic Church (also known as the Georgian Catholic Church ) only existed for a short time and has merged into the Latin Church in Georgia.
Alexandrian rite
The Alexandrian Rite churches emerged from the Patriarchate of Alexandria .
- Patriarchal Church
- Metropolitan Church
- Ethiopian Catholic Church ( Ethiopian Rite )
- Eritrean Catholic Church (Ethiopian Rite, established 2015)
West Syrian (Antiochene) rite
The churches of the West Syrian or Antiochene Rite emerged from the Patriarchate of Antioch .
- Patriarchal Church
- Syrian Catholic Church
- Maronite Church (also Syrian-Maronite Church or Maronite-Catholic Church)
- Grand Archbishop Church
East Syrian (Chaldean) rite
The churches of the East Syrian or Chaldean Rite emerged from the Catholic of Seleukia-Ctesiphon :
- Patriarchal Church
- Chaldean Catholic Church ( Chaldean Church , arose from the 16th century as a split from the Apostolic Church of the East (Nestorians) )
- Grand Archbishop Church
- Syro-Malabar Church (also Syro-Malabar Catholic Church )
Armenian rite
The Armenian Rite follows:
- Patriarchal Church
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry on ritual churches of the Catholic Church on gcatholic.org , accessed on December 13, 2014. (English)
- ↑ a b Smaller Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite: Greek Greek Catholic Church , prooriente.at, accessed July 4, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d These are recently (partly re) established nation states of Eastern Europe. It is certainly a long-term intention to bring together the exarchates of the home country and the diaspora communities, some of which are still subject to Roman Catholic jurisdiction, under a comprehensive church that is just as comprehensive as with the other rite churches, once the political and religious situation has consolidated. In some countries there are ordinariates for all Byzantine believers without their own ecclesiastical hierarchy (France, Austria, Brazil, Argentina, Poland).
- ↑ a b c Smaller Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite , prooriente.at.
Web links
- Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation motu proprio “De concordia inter Codices” of May 31, 2016
- Entry on rite churches of the Catholic Church on gcatholic.org (English)