Episcopal Conference of Turkey
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Episcopal Conference of Turkey is the committee meeting of the Catholic and Uniate bishops in Turkey. It is a member of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE), and a guest member of the Southeast European Bishops' Conferences. For the Turkish state, the Turkish Catholic Bishops' Conference is "de jure" non-existent, so there is no mutual representative.
Contents
Catholics in Turkey
The congregation of the United Syrian Catholic Church has about 1,200 members, led by a Chorbishop, who despite not being a bishop, is also representing the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Turkey. The Chaldean Catholic Church, with currently about 1,000 members in Turkey, is headed a Chaldean priest which bears the title of Patriarchal vicar. The Roman Catholic Church has about 15,000 members, their bishops are: the Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul, the Vicariate of the North of Turkey including Istanbul and Ankara.
Members of the Episcopal Conference
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Turkey has seven members:
- Chairman of the Bishops' Conference was until his death on the third June 2010: Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia
- Vice Chair: Kevork Khazoumian, Coadjutor Bishop of Archeparchy of the Istanbul Armenian Catholic Church in Turkey
Members are:
- Johannes Tcholakian, Archbishop of the Armenian Catholics in Turkey
- Ruggero Franceschini, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Izmir
- Louis Pelâtre, AA, Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul and Ankara
- Yusuf Sag, Patriarchal Vicar of the Syrian Catholic Church in Turkey
- Francois Yakan, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchal Church in Turkey
Commissioner for Human Rights
At the request of the Turkish bishops' conference was Dr. Otmar Oehring (Mission "missionary" in Aachen) to advocate for the Catholic churches in Turkey, appeal. In this role he sits on the European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE) and the European institutions for their interests and rights.
Chairman
- Pierre Gauthier, Georges Antoine Dubois, O.F.M. Cap., Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul (1979-1989)
- Giuseppe Germano Bernardini, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Izmir (1989-1992)
- Johannes Tcholakian, Archbishop of Istanbul (1992-1995)
- Louis Pelâtre, AA, Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul (1995-2001)
- Ruggero Franceschini, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Izmir (2001-2007)
- Luigi Padovese, O.F.M. Cap., Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia (2007-2010)
- Ruggero Franceschini, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Izmir (since 2010)
