Archdiocese of Sardica
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Diocese of Sofia and Plovdiv Dioecesis Sophiae et Philippopolis Епархия София и Пловдив |
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| Location | |
| Country | Bulgaria |
| Metropolitan | Immediately Subject to the Holy See |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 80,000 km2 (31,000 sq mi) |
| Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2010) 5,000,000 33,000 (0.7%) |
| Information | |
| Rite | Latin Rite |
| Established | 1601 (As Diocese of Sardica) 1642 (As Archdiocese of Sardica) 1759(As Vicariate Apostolic of Sofia and Plovdiv) 3 March 1979 (As Diocese of Sofia and Plovdiv) |
| Cathedral | Катедрален храм „Свети Лудвиг“ (Cathedral of St. Louis of France), Plovdiv |
| Co-cathedral | Катедрален храм „Свети Йосиф“ (Cocathedral of St. Joseph), Sofia |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Bishop | Gheorghi Ivanov Jovcev |
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sofia and Plovdiv is a Roman Catholic diocese of the Latin Rite, which includes the whole southern part of Bulgaria. The remainder of Bulgaria falls within the Diocese of Nicopoli.The diocese is exempt, i.e. immediately subject of the Holy See, not part of any ecclesiastical province.
The seat of the episcopal see is the Cathedral of St Louis is in Plovdiv and there is a new co-cathedral in Sofia — the Cathedral of St. Joseph, consecrated on May 21, 2006 by Cardinal Angelo Sodano. The construction was symbolically started by Pope John Paul II during his visit in Sofia in 2002.
The former name of the city, and of the previous diocese (now Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria) was Serdica, the city of the Serdi, a Celtic people defeated by Crassus in 29 BC and subjected to the Kingdom of Thrace, then a vassal state of republican Rome. When this kingdom was suppressed in 49 BC, the Serdi were included in the Roman Province of Thracia. Roman Emperor Trajan transformed the borough of the Serdi into a city which he called Ulpia Serdica. In 275 Aurelian caused Dacia beyond the Danube to be evacuated, and transplanted to Moesia and Roman Thracia the soldiers and colonists who were faithful to the Roman cause. The country occupied by these immigrants formed the new Province of Dacia, Sardica being included in this province (Homo, "Essai sur le règne de l'empereur Aurélien", pp. 313–21).
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