Roman Catholic Diocese of Požega

Diocese of Požega
Dioecesis Poseganus
Požeška biskupija

Coat of arms of bishop Antun Škvorčević
Location
Country  Croatia
Ecclesiastical province Đakovo-Osijek
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Požega
Statistics
Area 6,931 km2 (2,676 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		 (as of 2013)
286,285
254,937 (89.1%)
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Rite Roman Rite
Established 5 July 1997
Cathedral Cathedral of St. Theresa of Ávila
Patron saint Saint Lawrence
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Bishop

Antun Škvorčević

Bishop of Požega
Metropolitan Archbishop

Đuro Hranić

Archbishop of Đakovo-Osijek
Website
pozega.hbk.hr

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Požega (Croatian: Požeška biskupija; Latin: Dioecesis Poseganus) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the Slavonia region of Croatia. The diocese is centred in the city of Požega. It was first erected in 1997 after being split from the Archdiocese of Zagreb. The archdiocese had grown too large to effectively serve its faithful.

Požega was selected as the seat of diocese because of its historic tradition, as an urban centre since the 13th century. It was also the site of the first institution of higher education in Slavonia - the Jesuit Academy established in 1761.

The diocese covers the territory of western Slavonia as well as parts of Podravina (Virovitica) and Posavina (Nova Gradiška). This region suffered greatly during the Croatian War of Independence, and the need for the church to help in the recovery was another reason for the diocese's creation. Many church holdings were destroyed during the course of the war, and the recovery is still an ongoing process.

The diocese has 270,000 faithful, who are organized into the deaneries of Našice, Nova Gradiška, Nova Kapela, Pakrac, Požega and Virovitica with a total of 85 parishes.

Currently, Bishop Antun Škvorčević is head of the diocese. The diocesan cathedral is Saint Teresa of Ávila Cathedral.

On June 18, 2008, the diocese was shifted from suffragan to the Archdiocese of Zagreb, to a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Djakovo-Osijek

Ordinaries

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, January 31, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.