Roman Catholic Diocese of Kotor

Diocese of Kotor Dioecesis Catharensis
Cathedral of Saint Tryphon, Kotor
Location
Country	Montenegro
Ecclesiastical province	Split-Makarska
Metropolitan	Archdiocese of Split-Makarska
Statistics
Area	674 km2 (260 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 50,000 10,000 (20%)
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	10th Century
Cathedral	Cathedral of Saint Tryphon
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Ilija Janjic
Metropolitan Archbishop	Marin Barišić
Map
Map of Montenegro   Kotor Bishopric - Blue   Bar Archbishopric - Green

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kotor (Latin: Dioecesis Catharensis; Serbo-Croatian: Kotorska biskupija) is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in the Bay of Kotor area in Montenegro. It is centered in the city of Kotor (Cattaro). It was erected as a diocese in the 10th century.

The diocese's cathedral is the Cathedral of Saint Tryphon in Kotor. Ilija Janjić currently serves as bishop in the diocese.

About 10,000 of the 85,000 people in the territory of the diocese (approximately 12% of the total population) are Catholic, according to the Church's estimation.

The first documented bishop of Cattaro was Paulus, who participated in the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The next mention of the Diocese of Cattaro was 530, when it is mentioned as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Salona (Solin). The late Antiquity era, relatively the early Christian origin of the bishopric of Cattaro, is testified by an early Christian baptistery from the late 5th or early 6th centuries, discovered in an archeological examination of the Church of Saint Maria of Rijeka (Crkva sv. Marije od Rijeke) following the 1979 earthquake where the probable foundations of the first cathedral in Cattaro was discovered with remains, such as the cathedra and ciborium from the 6th century.

John, a bishop of Cattaro, was certainly mentioned in the acts of the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. John was also mentioned in 809 in epigraphical inscriptions found in Cattaro. Bishops of Cattaro were mentioned in Ecclesiastical Assembly of Spalatum in 925 and 928, during the reign of King Tomislav. Only a fragmental list of the bishops before the 11th century were preserved. Afterward, since 1090 till present-day, a complete list has existed, beginning with bishop Grimoald, of Lombard origin.