The Ordinariate has jurisdiction over the Catholic faithful of all Eastern rites living in Spain. Its seat is the city of
Madrid.
Eastern Catholic communities in Spain Eastern Catholics in Spain are mainly from the
Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and from the
Romanian Greek Catholic Church, both of
Byzantine rite. There are also communities of the
Syro Malabar Catholic Church. A small
Coptic Catholic community that existed in Spain no longer existed at the time of the erection of the Ordinariate, as its faithful migrated to other
European countries.
Romanian Greek-Catholic Church On March 16, 2009, the
Cardinal and Archbishop of
Madrid Antonio Maria Rouco Varela appointed the priest Bogdan Vasile Buda as chaplain responsible for the Romanian community of Byzantine rite residing in the archdiocese of Madrid. In April 2009 he assigned a chapel of the parish of Our Lady of Sorrows in Madrid for the pastoral care of the Romanian faithful of the Byzantine rite of his archdiocese. The community is called Capelania Greco-Catolică din Madrid Botezul Domnului (Baptism of the Lord). On March 1, 2012, Bogdan Vasile Buda was named
archpriest (protopop) by the Cardinal Primate of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church,
Lucian Mureşan, and by the archiepiscopal major synod, becoming the national leader of the Romanian Greek Catholic faithful and priests of Spain (Greco-Romanian Catholic Deanery (arciprestazgo) of Madrid). The archpriest has 8 priests serving two parishes and 6 chaplaincies: •
Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante: the chaplaincy is in the church of San Roque in
Alicante, with masses once a month in the church of San Pedro and San Pablo de
Torrevieja •
Diocese of Almería: chaplaincy in the church of the Holy Family of
Almería (Sfânta Familie) •
Diocese of Ciudad Real: in the church of the Remedios of
Ciudad Real •
Archdiocese of Granada: existing since 2006, the priest serves in the communities of
Castell de Ferro (parish church Nuestra Señora del Carmen),
Motril (in the church of Carmen) and
Granada (in the Virgen del Carmen church, which has a pastoral with
gypsies) •
Diocese of Mallorca: a community in the Oratory of San Telm in
Palma de Mallorca •
Diocese of Calahorra and La Calzada-Logroño: Romanian Greek Catholic parish of San Nicolás in
Calahorra (Parohia Greco-Catolică Română Sfântul Nicolae) •
Diocese of León: the Romanian Greek Catholic parish of
León (Pogorârea Sfântului Spirit, in the church of the Railway Orphans of León and in the chapel of Caritas Diocesana de
Benavente). Minor communities without a resident priest exist in the dioceses of
Alcalá de Henares,
Getafe and
Zamora.
Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church Ukrainian Greek Catholic communities have two parishes (Barcelona and Huelva) and 23 priests in 14 Spanish dioceses: •
Diocese of Albacete •
Diocese of Almería: community of Campohermoso •
Archdiocese of Barcelona: personal parish of Sant Josep, Santa Mònica and Sant Josafat •
Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta •
Diocese of Cartagena: community of
Murcia •
Diocese of Córdoba •
Diocese of Cuenca •
Diocese of Gerona •
Archdiocese of Granada: in the parish of Santo Ángel Custodio •
Diocese of Huelva: have since 2015 in the parish of Saints Cyril and Methodius its own temple on which depends the community of
Seville (also with its own temple, the church of the Sisters of Mary Repairing) •
Diocese of Lleida •
Archdiocese of Madrid: Ukrainian chaplaincy with headquarters in the parish of Our Lady of Good Success with 2000 parishioners, on which the chaplaincies depend in the parishes of Santa Teresa de Jesus de
Getafe and Virgen de Belén de
Alcalá de Henares •
Diocese of Málaga •
Diocese of Mallorca: Ukrainian chaplaincy in the church of Santa Fe in Palma de Mallorca •
Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante: community in Torrevieja •
Archdiocese of Pamplona •
Diocese of Solsona •
Archdiocese of Tarragona •
Diocese of Urgell •
Archdiocese of Valencia •
Diocese of Vic: communities in
Torelló and in
Vic •
Diocese of Vitoria •
Archdiocese of Zaragoza Bishop
Hlib Lonchyna was
apostolic visitor for Ukrainian Greek Catholics in Spain from March 4, 2004, until January 7, 2009. He was succeeded since January 19, 2009 by the titular bishop of Egnazia,
Dionisio Lachovicz, as apostolic visitor in
Italy and Spain, appointed by
Pope Benedict XVI and based in
Rome. In 2009 it was estimated that in Spain there were 42,000 faithful in 45 communities of Ukrainians of Byzantine rite, attended by 17 priests.
Syro-Malabar Catholic Church In Madrid there is the Syro Malabar community of Saint Thomas, with 80 members and a priest since 2009, and four other communities in Barcelona, Granada, Toledo and Valladolid, which together another 120 worshipers, ten priests and four nuns. ==Ordinaries==