Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia

"Archdiocese of Alba Iulia" redirects here. For the Orthodox dioceses, see Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of Alba Iulia and Greek Catholic Archdiocese of Făgăraş and Alba Iulia.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia (Latin: Archidioecesis Albae Iuliensis); Hungarian: Gyulafehérvári Római Katolikus Érsekség) is a Latin Church archdiocese in Transylvania, Romania.

Archdiocese of Alba Iulia Archidioecesis Albae Iuliensis Arhiepiscopia de Alba Iulia
Location
Country	Romania
Metropolitan	Immediately Subject to the Holy See
Statistics
Area	58,254 km2 (22,492 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2015) 4,017,256 397,778 (9.9%)
Parishes	253
Information
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	1009 (As Diocese of Transilvania, Erdély, Siebenbürgen) 22 March 1932 (As Diocese of Alba Iulia) 5 August 1991 (Archdiocese of Alba Iulia)
Cathedral	St. Michael's Cathedral, Alba Iulia
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	Gergely Kovács
Auxiliary Bishops	László Kerekes (elect)
Bishops emeritus	György Jakubinyi József Tamás
Map
Administrative map of Roman-Catholic Church

History

It was established as a bishopric, the diocese of Transylvania also called Erdély (in Hungarian), or Karlsburg alias Siebenbürgen (in German), in 1009 by King Stephen I of Hungary and was renamed as the diocese of Alba Iulia on 22 March 1932.

It was raised to the rank of an archdiocese by Pope John Paul II on 5 August 1991. It is exempt, i.e. directly subordinate to the Vatican, while the other Romanian dioceses form the Ecclesiastical Province of Bucharest.

Bishops

Ordinaries

Bishops

• (?) Franco (1071–1081)
• Simon (1111–1113)
• Peter (1134)
• Baranus (1139)
• Walter (1156–1157/8)
• Vilcina (1166–1169)
• Paul (1181)
• Adrian (1192–1201)
• William (1204–1221)
• Raynald of Belleville (1222–1241)
• Artolf (1244–1245)
• Gallus (1246–1269)
• Peter Monoszló (1270–1307)
• Benedict (1309–1319)
• Demetrius (1368–1376)
• Goblinus (1376–1386)
• János Statileo (1534–1542)
• Pál Bornemissza (1553–1556)
• Demeter Naprágyi (1597–1605)
• Ignác Batthyány (1780–1798)
• Sándor Rudnay (1815–1819)
• Lajos Haynald (1852–1863)
• Áron Márton (1938–1980)
• Lajos Bálint (1990–1991)

Archbishops

• Lajos Bálint (1991–1993)
• György Jakubinyi (1994–2019)
• Gergely Kovács (since 2019)

Auxiliary Bishops

• György-Miklós Jakubinyi (1990–1994), appointed Archbishop here
• József Tamás (1996–2019)
• László Kerekes (since 2020)

Description

The archdiocese covers Transylvania proper—the counties of Alba, Bistrița-Năsăud, Brașov, Cluj, Covasna, Harghita, Hunedoara, Mureș, Sălaj and Sibiu.

The cathedral episcopal see is St. Michael's, in Alba Iulia city. It also has a minor basilica in Șumuleu Ciuc.

Population

11% of the inhabitants are Roman Catholic, with concentrations in parts of Harghita and Covasna counties. Catholic adherents are predominantly ethnic Hungarians.

External links

• (in Hungarian) Official site
• GigaCatholic, listing the episcopal incumbents