Catholic Church in Bulgaria
The Catholic Church is the fourth largest religious congregation in Bulgaria, after Eastern Orthodoxy, Islam and Protestantism. Its roots in the country date to the Middle Ages and are part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
Location and number
In the Bulgarian census of 2011, a total of 48,945 people declared themselves to be Catholics, up from 43,811 in the previous census of 2001 though down as compared to 53,074 in 1992. The vast majority of the Catholics in Bulgaria in 2001 were ethnic Bulgarians and the rest belonged to a number of other ethnic groups such as Croatians, Italians, Arabs and Germans.Bulgarian Catholics live predominantly in the regions of Svishtov and Plovdiv and are mostly descendants of the heretical Christian sect of the Paulicians, which converted to Catholicism in the 16th and 17th centuries. The largest Catholic Bulgarian town is Rakovski in Plovdiv Province. Ethnic Bulgarian Catholics known as the Banat Bulgarians also inhabit the Central European region of the Banat. Their number is unofficially estimated at about 12,000, although Romanian censuses count only 6,500 Banat Bulgarians in the Romanian part of the region.
Bulgarian Catholics are descendants of three groups. The first were converted Paulicians from the course of the Osam river and around Plovdiv are the second group, while the third one is formed by more recent Eastern Orthodox converts.
Geographical distribution
Most Catholics live in the province of Plovdiv, followed by the city of Sofia and the provinces of Pleven and Veliko Tarnovo| Municipality | Catholic population | % of those who answered | % of the total population |
| Rakovski Municipality | 11,400 | 53.2% | 43.2% |
| Sofia | 5,572 | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| city of Plovdiv | 3,681 | 1.4% | 1.1% |
| Kaloyanovo Municipality | 2,630 | 23.5% | 22.1% |
| Svishtov Municipality | 2,396 | 7.5% | 5.6% |
| Belene Municipality | 1,872 | 31.9% | 18.1% |
| Levski Municipality | 1,504 | 11.0% | 7.5% |
| Varna Municipality | 1,203 | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| Pleven Municipality | 1,173 | 1.0% | 0.9% |
| Bulgaria as whole | 48,945 | 0.8% | 0.7% |
History
Bulgarian Empire
Although the presence of Catholicism existed during the reign of Roman Empire in Balkan Peninsula, Catholic missionaries first tried to convert the Bulgarians during the reign of Tsar Boris I in the middle of the 9th century. They were unsuccessful, and Boris I led the Bulgarians in their conversion to Eastern Christianity. In 1204 the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan formed a short-lived union between the Catholic Church and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as a political tactic to balance the religious power of the Byzantine Empire. The union ended when the Bulgarian Patriarchate was reestablished in 1235 during the council of Lampsacus.Ottoman rule
Nonetheless, Catholic missionaries renewed their interest in Bulgaria during the 16th century, after the Council of Trent, when they were aided by merchants from Dubrovnik on the Adriatic. In the next century, Catholic missionaries converted most of the Paulicians, the remainder of a once-numerous heretical Christian sect, to Catholicism. Many believed that conversion would bring aid from Western Europe in liberating Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire.By 1700, however, the Ottomans began persecuting Catholics and preventing their Orthodox subjects from converting.
Independent Bulgaria
After Bulgaria became independent, the Catholic Church again tried to increase its influence by opening schools, colleges, and hospitals throughout the country, and by offering scholarships to students who wished to study abroad. Bulgarian Knyaz Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was himself Catholic and supported the Vatican in these efforts. The papal nuncio Angelo Roncalli, who later became Pope John XXIII, played a leading role in establishing Catholic institutions in Bulgaria and in establishing diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and the Vatican in 1925.Communist Bulgaria
The communist era was a time of great persecution for Catholics, nominally because Catholicism was considered the religion of fascism. Bulgarian communists also deemed Catholicism a foreign influence. Under communist rule, Catholic priests were charged with following Vatican orders to conduct antisocialist activities and help opposition parties. In 1949 foreign priests were forbidden to preach in Bulgaria, and the papal nuncio was forbidden to return to Bulgaria. Relations between the Vatican and Bulgaria were severed at that time. During the "Catholic trials" of 1951-52, sixty priests were convicted of working for Western intelligence agencies and collecting political, economic, and military intelligence for the West.; Four priests were executed on the basis of these charges. In the early 1950s, the property of Catholic parishes was confiscated, all Catholic schools, colleges, and clubs were closed, and the Catholic Church was deprived of its legal status. Only nominal official toleration of Catholic worship remained.Bulgaria since 1990
Like the practitioners of the other faiths, Catholics in Bulgaria have enjoyed greater religious freedom after the end of communist rule in 1989. Bulgaria reestablished relations with the Vatican in 1990, and the Bulgarian government invited Pope John Paul II to visit Bulgaria. The visit was carried from 23 to 26 May 2002 and was the first visit of an acting Catholic pope in the country.Churches and hierarchies
Latin Church
Bulgaria has no ecclesiastical province for Catholics of the Latin Church, nor suffragans of a neighbouring one, but only two exempt dioceses in Bulgaria :- the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sofia and Plovdiv, with cathedral see in Plovdiv and co-cathedral in Sofia
- the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nikopol, with cathedral see in Rousse.
Bulgarian Byzantine Catholic Church
It consists solely of a single apostolic exarchate, which is exempt :
- Bulgarian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Sofia, with its cathedral see in Sofia.