Archdiocese of Scopia

Diocese of Skopje Dioecesis Scopiensis Скопска бискупија
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Skopje)
Location
Country	Macedonia
Ecclesiastical province	Archdiocese of Vrhbosna
Statistics
Area	30,010 km2 (11,590 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2010) 2,350,000 3,650 (0.2%)
Parishes	2
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Skopje)
Co-cathedral	Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (Bitola)
Secular priests	3
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Kiro Stojanov
Metropolitan Archbishop	Vinko Puljić

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Skopje (Lat:Dioecesis Scopiensis), is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Macedonia. From the 4th century to 1656, when it was renamed to Archdiocese of Skopje, it was known as the Archdiocese of Dardania. In 1969 along with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Prizren, it formed the Diocese of Skopje-Prizren. In 2000 it became a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna, and the bishop is Kiro Stojanov, appointed in 2005.

Originally erected in the 4th century as the ancient Archdiocese of Dardania, the archdiocese was a bulwark of the Roman Empire, as it was on the primary north/south route from Athens to Sirmium. With the great troubles in the Empire, the Archdiocese remained in the Empire long after the fall of Rome. After suffering from an earthquake in 518, the metropolitan cathedral was rebuilt along with most of Skopje, by the Emperor Justinian.

In the 7th century, as the Roman power declined in the Eastern Empire, the Slavs invaded and destroyed the city. No bishops are known from 553 to 882. After being rebuilt, Skopje switched hands several times in the power struggle between the Romans and the Bulgarians, before the eventual collapse of the Bulgarian empire. Until 1014, the Archdiocese was in the hands of the Bulgarians, when the Byzantines finally crushed Tsar Samoil, and reincorporated them within the empire.

There were Catholic bishops in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries but Skopje remained Byzantine until 1282 when it was conquered by Serbia. After the arrival of the Ottomans and the defeat of the Serbs in the battle of Kosovo (1389), Skopje was conquered by Ottomans in 1392. It would be three centuries before Catholic see would be revived again: it was a titular see from 1346 to 1656. In 1656, after the defeat of the Turks in the battle of Vienna, the city was raided and taken by the Austrians, and the archdiocese was finally restored and renamed the Archdiocese of Skopje (Scopia). This marked a brief interlude, as the Turks pressed them back and the see was suppressed once again under the Turks. The archbishops had to reside in the Albanian mountains.