The Maltese Episcopal Conference (Maltese : Il-Konferenza Episkopali Maltija) is the official Catholic bishops' meeting in the Republic of Malta. Its president, as of 2024 is Charles J. Scicluna, the Archbishop of Malta. [1]
The Conference of Bishops of Malta is a member of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences [2] and the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community. [3]
In 2024, the members of the conference are:
The secretary is Fr Jimmy Bonnici.
The Conference has the following committees and administrative groups:
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Formally founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The traditional origins of Anglican doctrine are summarised in the Thirty-nine Articles (1571). The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, recognised as primus inter pares, but does not exercise authority in Anglican provinces outside of the Church of England. Most, but not all, member churches of the communion are the historic national or regional Anglican churches.
An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. The word "bishop" here is derived via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term *ebiscopus/*biscopus, from the Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος epískopos meaning "overseer". It is the structure used by many of the major Christian Churches and denominations, such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Anabaptist, Lutheran, and Anglican churches or denominations, and other churches founded independently from these lineages. Many Methodist denominations have a form of episcopal polity known as connexionalism.
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
The Union of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Churches, most commonly referred to by the short form Union of Utrecht (UU), is a federation of Old Catholic Churches, nationally organized from schisms which rejected Roman Catholic doctrines of the First Vatican Council in 1870; its member churches are not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is the national assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in Canada. It was founded in 1943, and was officially recognized by the Holy See in 1948. Since the Second Vatican Council, it became part of a worldwide network of episcopal conferences, established in 1965. Until 1977, it was called the Canadian Catholic Conference, when the present name was adopted.
The Bishops' Conference of Scotland (BCOS), under the trust of the Catholic National Endowment Trust, and based in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, is an episcopal conference for archbishops and bishops of the Catholic Church in Scotland. The conference is primarily made up of the presiding bishops of Scotland's eight dioceses as well as bishops who have retired.
The Catholic Church in Europe is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See in Rome, including represented Eastern Catholic missions. Demographically, Catholics are the largest religious group in Europe.
The Catholic Church in Serbia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in Serbia, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. There are 356,957 Catholics in Serbia according to the 2011 census, which is roughly 5% of the population. Estimates in 2020 suggested that the figure had risen to 5.5-6%.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia is a Lutheran Protestant church in Latvia. Latvia's Lutheran heritage dates back to the Reformation. Both the Nazi and communist regimes persecuted the church harshly before religious freedom returned to Latvia in 1988. In contrast to Estonia, where state atheism reduced the once 80% Lutheran majority to barely 10% by 2011, the Latvian Lutheran church saw its membership drop to around 20% but has recovered and now includes approximately 30% of the population. The church reports having 250,000 members according to the Lutheran World Federation.
The Archdiocese of Malta is a metropolitan archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Malta.
Catholic Christianity is the predominant religion in Malta. The Constitution of Malta establishes Catholicism as the state religion, and it is also reflected in various elements of Maltese culture.
The Polish Episcopal Conference or Polish Bishops' Conference is the central organ of the Catholic Church in Poland. It is composed of 3 cardinals, 24 archbishops and 118 bishops.
The Croatian Bishops' Conference (HBK) is an episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in Croatia. The Conference was founded on May 15, 1993 after Croatia regained its independence after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, which consequentially led to the abolition of the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia. HBK is composed of all active and retired bishops; currently 32.
The Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe is a conference of the presidents of the 33 Roman Catholic episcopal conferences of Europe, the Archbishop of Luxembourg, the Archbishop of Monaco, Maronite Catholic Archeparch of Cyprus, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Chişinău, the Ruthenian Catholic Eparch of Mukacheve, and the Apostolic Administrator of Estonia.
The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union, formerly the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, is the association of Catholic Church episcopal conferences in member states of the European Union (EU) which officially represents those episcopal conferences at EU institutions. COMECE holds two meetings of the Plenary Assembly each year, which set out the main lines of its work. The Apostolic Nuncio to the European Communities participates in these meetings. A seminal issue of the European integration process provides the core theme of each meeting.
The Portuguese Episcopal Conference is a collective body of the national church and the administration of the Roman Catholic Church in Portugal. The Portuguese Episcopal Conference performs certain pastoral functions designed to deal with the liturgical, disciplinary and other issues specific to the Catholic community in Portugal. The supreme body of the Episcopal Conference is the Portuguese general assembly of bishops and archbishops. Decisions of the Episcopal Conference are approved by the Pope.
Charles Jude Scicluna is a Canadian-Maltese prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as Archbishop of Malta since 2015. Both as a curial official and since becoming a bishop, he has conducted investigations into sexual abuse by clergy on behalf of the Holy See and led a board that reviews such cases. He has been called "the Vatican's most respected sex crimes expert".
Mario Grech is a Maltese prelate of the Catholic Church who was Bishop of Gozo from 2005 to 2019. He was Pro-Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops from October 2019 until he became Secretary General in September 2020.
Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid is a Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Bishop of Osorno from 2015 to 2018. He was Auxiliary Bishop of Valparaíso from 1995 to 2000, Bishop of Iquique from 2000 to 2004, and Military Ordinary of Chile from 2004 to 2015.
