Romanian Catholics, like Catholics elsewhere, are members of the Catholic Church under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. The administration for the local Latin Church is centered in Bucharest, and comprises two archdioceses and four other dioceses. It is the second largest Romanian denomination after the Romanian Orthodox Church, and one of the 18 state-recognized religions. The 2022 census indicated that there were 741,504 Romanian citizens adhering to the Latin Church (3.89% of the population). Of these, the largest groups were Hungarians (54.7% or 405,212, including Székely and Csángó), Romanians (38.2% or 283,092), Germans (1.7% or 12,495) and Slovaks (0.9% or 6,853). "Biserica Romano-Catolică" , at the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, Under-Secretariat for Culture and Religious Affairs; retrieved February 21, 2015
Most Romanian Latin Catholics inhabit the region of Transylvania and Bacău County in Moldavia.Earl A. Pope, "Protestantism in Romania", in Sabrina Petra Ramet (ed.), Protestantism and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia: The Communist and Postcommunist Eras, Duke University Press, Durham, 1992, p.158-160. Smaller Latin Catholic communities exist among Banat Bulgarians, Italian-Romanians, Polish-Romanians, Croat-Romanians and Krashovani, Czech-Romanians and the local Romani people.Diversitate etnoculturală în Europa, at the Resource Center for Ethno-cultural Diversity; retrieved July 25, 2007
The Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris church which uses the Byzantine Rite. It has separate jurisdictions, five eparchies, and one archeparchy headed by a major archbishop (thus the church has its own synod), and has historically been strongest in Transylvania. The majority of its members are Romanians, with groups of Ukrainians from northern Romania. Members of the Armenian community who belong to the Armenian Catholic Church are organized in the Latin Church-led Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Romania. The Armenian Rite as used by its largely Transylvanian membership was significantly hybridized into the 20th century.
Structure
The Archdiocese of Bucharest is the metropolitan see for the entire country's Latin jurisdiction, directly overseeing the regions of Muntenia, Northern Dobruja and Oltenia; it has around 52,000 parishioners, most of them Romanians. "Arhiepiscopia Bucureşti" , at the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, Under-Secretariat for Culture and Religious Affairs; retrieved July 25, 2007 The other diocese of its rank, the Archdiocese of Alba Iulia (in Alba Iulia), groups the region of Transylvania-proper (without Maramureș and Crișana), and has around 480,000 mostly Hungarian parishioners. "Arhiepiscopia Alba Iulia" , at the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, Under-Secretariat for Culture and Religious Affairs; retrieved July 25, 2007 Four other dioceses function in Romania and are based, respectively, in Timișoara (the Diocese of Timișoara, representing the Banat), Oradea (the Diocese of Oradea, for Crișana), Satu Mare (the Diocese of Satu Mare, for Maramureș), and Iași (the Diocese of Iași, for Moldavia).
The church presently runs a faculty of theology (as part of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca), four theological institutes, six medical schools and sixteen seminaries (see Religious education in Romania). Among the journals issued by Catholic institutions are the Romanian-language Actualitatea Creștină (Bucharest) and Lumina Creștinului (Iași), as well as the Hungarian-language Keresztény Szó and Vasárnap (both in Cluj-Napoca). It leads a network of charitable organizations and other social ventures, administrated by its Caritas foundation or the religious institutes; it includes kindergartens, orphanages, social canteens, medical facilities.
YearCatholics (Latin Church)Percentage19301,234,1516.8%19481,175,000New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol 12, p. 3357.4%19921,161,9425.1%20021,028,4014.7%2011870,7744.3%2022741,2763.9%
History
Medieval period
The oldest traces of Catholic activities on present-day Romanian territory were recorded in Transylvania, in connection to the extension of Magyar rule and the region's integration into the Kingdom of Hungary (see History of Transylvania). Inaugurated by the early presence of Benedictines, these were strengthened by the colonization of Transylvanian Saxons, as well as by missionary activities among the local Vlach (Romanian) population and forceful conversions.Ştefănescu, p.79, 128-131 The Diocese of Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár) was probably set up in the 11th century."Transylvania", in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Press, New York, 1913Ştefănescu, p.80 Tradition holds that this was done under supervision from King Stephen I – according to the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913, a more likely patron is Ladislaus I, who ruled almost a century after (the first bishop it lists is Simon, who held the see between 1103 and 1113).
Other dioceses were created in Cenad (Csanád) and Oradea (Nagyvárad). They were subordinated to the Archbishop of Kalocsa, part of the Catholic Church in Hungary. The northern area comprised in the comitatus of Máramaros was originally part of the Alba Iulia Diocese, while the southern one, Szeben, was a provostship not comprised in any bishopric (and thus exempt).
During the rule of Béla IV, the Catholic hierarchy was disestablished by the Mongol incursion (see Battle of Mohi), and only recovered after 1300. In 1304, Pope Boniface VIII sent the first Catholic missionaries from Transylvania into the lands over the Carpathian Mountains (the area known as "Cumania"), where Eastern Orthodox bishops were already present.Ştefănescu, p.112 A Diocese of Cumania was created on the Milcov, in areas later ruled by Moldavia and Wallachia. Its assets were granted by the Hungarian rulers, whose claimed suzerainty over the region,Ştefănescu, p.116 and it extended over parts of Székely Land.
The Diocese of Cumania disappeared for a while, as locals took over its property, but was revived in 1332–1334, when Pope John XXII appointed the Franciscan Vitus de Monteferro, the chaplain of King Charles Robert, as the new bishop. Direct control over the congregation was made difficult by the intrusion of the Golden Horde, who had set up its base in the region later known as Budjak (present-day southern Ukraine). Around 1318, the Dobrujan town of Vicina was part of the Catholic vicariate of "Northern Tartary".
During the 14th century, in the years following the establishment of Moldavia and Wallachia as separate states (the Danubian Principalities), Catholic clerics arriving mainly from Jagiellon Poland and Transylvania set up the first Catholic congregations over the Carpathians.
In both countries, as a result of stately emancipation and lingering conflicts with the Hungarian Kingdom, the relatively strong Catholic presence receded with the establishment of more powerful Eastern Orthodox institutions (the Hungro-Wallachian diocese and the Moldavian diocese).Ştefănescu, p.74-76 Nevertheless, Catholics remained an important presence in both areas. As a result of fighting between Wallachia's Prince Vladislav I Vlaicu and Hungarian King Louis I, concessions were made by both sides, and Wallachia agreed to tolerate a Catholic bishopric (1368).Ştefănescu, p.93 The following year, Wallachia resumed its anti-Catholic policies.Ştefănescu, p.94 In Moldavia, Prince Lațcu began negotiations with Pope Urban V and agreed to convert to Catholicism (1369); following a period of trouble, this political choice was to be overturned by Petru I during the 1380s. New sees were created in that country: in 1371, the one in Siret, and, under the rule of Alexandru cel Bun, the short-lived one of Baia (1405–1413)."Jassy", in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Press, New York, 1913Ştefănescu, p.16, 76
Over the following centuries, the citadel of Cotnari was home to a notable Catholic community, initially comprising local Hungarians and Germans. In Wallachia, a short-lived Catholic diocese was created during the reign of Radu I, around the main town of Curtea de Argeș (1381).Ştefănescu, p.76 The Moldavian diocese of Siret survived through the early stage of war with the Ottoman Empire, but was ultimately disestablished during the early 15th century, when it moved to Bacău. In 1497, that location was abandoned by the hierarchy, and was no longer active during the following century. Until the mid-19th century, like all other religious minorities, Catholics did not enjoy full political and civil rights.Vasile Maciu, "Costche Negri, un ctitor al României moderne", in Magazin Istoric, May 1975, p.68
The impact of Reformation
Following the 1526 Battle of Mohács, during which the Ottomans conquered much of Hungary, leaving Transylvania under the rule of local Princes (see Ottoman Hungary), Roman Catholicism entered a period of regression, and was later confronted with the success of the Reformation. The first community to embrace a Protestant creed were the Transylvanian Saxons, most of whom adhered to the Lutheran Augsburg Confession as early as 1547, followed soon after by large groups of the Hungarian population, who converted to Calvinism. The provostship of Szeben ceased to exist entirely. Catholicism attempted to reestablish itself as George Martinuzzi, a Catholic cleric, took over rule of Transylvania, but again declined after Martinuzzi was assassinated in 1551.
Religious disputes and battles prolonged themselves over the following centuries, as a large number of Latin Catholic communities founded specifically Protestant local churches – the Reformed Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Evangelical Church of Augustan Confession – while others adhered to the Unitarian Church of Transylvania.Ronnie Po-chia Hsia, The World of Catholic Renewal, 1540-1770, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005, p.95. The Diocese of Alba Iulia was disestablished in 1556.
An unprecedented stalemate was reached in 1568, under John II Sigismund Zápolya, when the Edict of Torda sanctioned freedom of religion and awarded legal status to the: Latin Catholic, Reformed, Lutheran and Unitarian churches alike (while viewing the majority Eastern Orthodox as "tolerated"). The Alba Iulia see was revived soon after the Catholic Ștefan Batory took the Transylvanian throne in succession to Zápolya (who had since become King of Hungary).
During that age, Latin Catholics were recognized an autonomous structure, which allowed clerics and laity to organize teaching and administrate community schools. A particular compromise was the Saxon citadel of Biertan (Birthälm), where the fortified church was taken over by the majority Lutheran community, and Catholic worship was still allowed to take place in the "Catholic Tower", located just south of the religious building.Alexandra Mureșan, "The Fortified Church of Biertan (Transylvania)", in Myra Shackley (ed.), Visitor Management: Case Studies from World Heritage Sites, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2000, p.37.
The Counter-Reformation itself had an impact, with members of the Jesuit religious order being called into the region as early as 1579 (under the rule of Ștefan Batory). "Repere istorice" , at the Society of Jesus in Romania; retrieved July 25, 2007 In 1581, they founded an educational university in Cluj (Kolozsvár), nucleus of the present-day Babeș-Bolyai University. Originally protected by the powerful Báthorys, they continued to have a precarious status in Transylvania. Expelled in 1588-1595 (when Calvinism became official), and again in 1610-1615 (following the pressures of Gabriel Báthori), they continued their activities in the Moldavian region around Cotnari.
17th century setbacks and recovery