Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo

Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo
Location
Country	Syria
Statistics
Parishes	10
Information
Rite	Latin Rite
Cathedral	Child Jesus
Current leadership
Bishop	Georges Abou Khazen, OFM

The Apostolic Vicariate of Aleppo (in Latin: Vicariatus Apostolicus Aleppensis) is an apostolic vicariate (Latin pre-diocesan missionary jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, entitled to a titular bishop) and is immediately subject to the Holy See and its missionary Roman Congregation for the Oriental Churches

The seat of the vicariate is the city of Aleppo (Halab in Arabic), where the Cathedral of the Child Jesus, was opened by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri on 15 January 2011. Its (former?) episcopal see is the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, in Aleppo, Syria's greatest city before the civil war. It is currently ruled by the bishop Georges Abou Khazen, O.F.M..

It is Syria's only Latin jurisdiction, so there is no episcopal conference, but the Apostolic Vicar and the Eastern Catholic hierarchs of five rite-specific Catholic churches (Melkite, Syriac, Maronite, Chaldean and Armenian; all have an Aleppo see, archepachies except the Chaldean eparchy) form the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in Syria (A.H.C.S.). The Apostolic Vicar is also a member of the Conference of the Latin Bishops of the Arab Regions.

The Apostolic Vicariate extends its jurisdiction over the Catholics of the Latin Rite of all Syria, as per 2014 pastorally serving 13,000 Catholics in 10 parishes and 6 missions with 38 priests (religious) and 243 lay religious (46 brothers, 197 sisters).

From the early decades of the seventeenth century some religious orders, particularly the Order of the Friars Minor Capuchin, the Carmelites and the Society of Jesus, settled in Syria and Aleppo. There were several conversions to Catholicism of the Latin rite, and this led Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples to establish a diocese in Aleppo.

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Wikipedia