Roman Catholic Diocese of Nitra

Diocese of Nitra
Dioecesis Nitriensis

St. Emmeram's Cathedral in Nitra
Location
Country Slovakia
Territory Nitra Region, parts of the Trenčín Region
Ecclesiastical province Bratislava
Metropolitan Nitra
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Rite Roman Rite
Current leadership
Pope Benedict XVI
Bishop Viliam Judák
Website
biskupstvo-nitra.sk

The Diocese of Nitra (Slovak: Nitrianska diecéza, Latin: Dioecesis Nitriensis) is a Roman Catholic diocese western Slovakia, with its seat in Nitra. The current bishop is Viliam Judák.

History

The diocese was created as the first one on the territory of present-day Slovakia around 880 (from the Diocese of Regensburg), during the time of Great Moravia. Its first bishop was the Saint Methodius. Its destiny after the fall of Great Moravia isn't known. It was re-established in 1105 as part of the ecclesiastical province of Esztergom. In 1977, it was taken from the Archdiocese of Esztergom and attached into the newly-established Diocese of Trnava. Before the reorganization in 2008, it was situated in the western parts of the Trenčín and Žilina regions with a strip connecting the city of Nitra to the main part. It had an area of 5,321 km² and a population of that area was 838,861 of which around 84% were of Catholic faith (2004).

On 14 February 2008, the territory of the diocese was reorganized. The diocese lost northern parts to the newly-created Diocese of Žilina, but gained territory around the "strip" and southern parts from the Archdiocese of Bratislava-Trnava (see e.g. this map (in Slovak).

External links