Catholic Intelligence

Apostolic Exarchate of Repubblica Ceca

Reipublicae Cechae

Apostolic exarchate of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church covering the Czech Republic, with its seat in Prague. Erected by Pope John Paul II on 13 March 1996 and immediately subject to the Holy See through the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. The see has been vacant since Bishop Ladislav Hucko died on 14 January 2025.

The see

Rank
Eastern exarchate immediately subject to the Holy See
Tradition
Ruthenian Catholic Church
Erected
18 January 1996
Latin
Reipublicae Cechae
Annuario code
001000329

The see in figures

Population
2,013
Priests
36
Extent
78,870 km²

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

The register holds no ordinary for this see. Where a chair is vacant the vacancy is the fact, and it is recorded rather than filled in. See the bishop.

The cathedral

St. Clement's Cathedral, Prague stands in Repubblica Ceca, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

History

Pope John Paul II erected the Apostolic Exarchate of the Greek Catholic Church in the Czech Republic, a jurisdiction of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, on 13 March 1996. In the years after the 1989 Velvet Revolution, the same pope directed that the married men who had been secretly and irregularly ordained as Roman Catholic priests by underground bishop Felix Maria Davídek undergo conditional re-ordination, followed by permanent liturgical transfer to the Byzantine Rite Exarchate.

What is kept by invitation

The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.

The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].