Congregation for the Oriental Churches

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The Congregation for the Oriental Churches (Congregatio pro Ecclesiis Orientalibus) is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for contact with the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches for the sake of assisting their development, protecting their rights and also maintaining whole and entire in the one Catholic Church, alongside the liturgical, disciplinary and spiritual patrimony of the Latin Rite, the heritage of the various Oriental Christian traditions. It has exclusive authority over the following regions: Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula, Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, southern Albania and Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey.

The Congregation for the Oriental Churches has its origins in the "Congregatio de Propaganda Fide pro negotiis ritus orientalis" founded by Pope Pius IX on January 6, 1862. Included in the Congregation's membership are all Eastern Rite patriarchs and major archbishops, as well as the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. ^[1]