Roman Catholicism in Serbia

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Church of St. Gerhard, Vršac, the largest Catholic church in Serbia

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Church of Our Lady of the Snows

The Catholic Church in Serbia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. There are 356,957 Catholics in Serbia according to the 2011 census, which is roughly 5% of the population. Roman Catholics are mostly concentrated in several municipalities in northern Vojvodina, and are mostly members of ethnic minorities, such as Hungarians and Croats.

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Map of Roman Catholic church organization in Serbia

  Archdiocese of Belgrade

  Diocese of Subotica

  Diocese of Zrenjanin

  Diocese of Syrmia

  Apostolic Administration of Prizren

Hierarchy

Within Serbia, the Latin Rite Catholic hierarchy consists of one archdiocese, three dioceses and one apostolic administration.

Archdioceses and dioceses	Serbo-Croatian name	(Arch)bishop	Est.	Cathedral	Weblink
Archdiocese of Belgrade	Beogradska nadbiskupija	Stanislav Hočevar	1914	Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary Co-Cathedral of Christ the King	[1]
Diocese of Subotica	Subotička biskupija	János Pénzes	1923	Cathedral of Saint Teresa of Avila	[2]
Diocese of Zrenjanin	Zrenjaninska biskupija	László Nemet	1923	Cathedral of St. John of Nepomuk	[3]
Diocese of Syrmia	Srijemska biskupija	Đuro Gašparović	2008	Cathedral Basilica of St. Demetrius	[4]
Apostolic Administration of Prizren	Apostolska administratura u Prizrenu	Dodë Gjergji	2000	Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour	[5]

In addition, the Apostolic Exarchate of Serbia was established in 2002 for Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Church of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro.

The Diocese of Syrmia is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek in Croatia. Kosovo is a disputed territory that unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008; since 2000 it is under the Apostolic Administration of Prizren, which also covers some Albanian-populated parts of southern Serbia.

Statistics

Catholics in Serbia

	census 1921.		census 1991.		census 2002.		census 2011.
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Catholics	751.429	17.16	496.226	6.4	410.976	5.48	356.957	4.97
Total population	4.378.595	100	7.759.571	100	7.498.001	100	7.186.862	100

Bishops' Conference of St. Cyril and Methodius

Main article: International Bishops' Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius

The International Bishops' Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius is the International Catholic Episcopal Conference that includes Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia. Permanent members are the Catholic bishops and archbishops from the four countries. Two bishops are authorized (Apostolic Exarchate) for jurisdictional districts of the Byzantine rite. As of 2012, the Chairman of the Conference is the Archbishop of Bar Zef Gashi. The conference is a member of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences.

External links

• Conference of the Saints Cyril and Methodius
• Catholic Archdiocese of Belgrade
• Radio Maria of Serbia