02 March 2012

Lentorama 2012: Know Your Diocese


Day 10: Diocese of Transfiguration at Novosibirsk


At 700,000 square miles in area and with only 500,000 Catholics, this may be the least densely populated diocese of all. It didn't get full diocese status until 2002, but has been a part of the Catholic hierarchy in Russia since 1921.

The current bishop, Joseph Werth, is an interesting guy. Born in what is now Kazakhstan, he was trained in secret by Jesuits in Lithuania, and was ordained in 1984. His work in the Asian region of the USSR was seen as successful, and there's some thought he was made a cardinal in secret (in pectore) by Pope John Paul II, probably to protect him from problems with the Russian government (and the Russian Orthodox church, with which the Vatican has had problematic relations since, well, the Great Schism).

That may also explain why all the diocese names in Russia have some sort of name in addition to the location (for example, the archdiocese is called Mother of God at Moscow).

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