The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous particular churches of the Catholic Church, in full communion with the Pope in Rome. Although they are distinct theologically, liturgically, and historically from the Latin Church, they are all in full communion with it and with each other. Eastern Catholics are a distinct minority within the Catholic Church; of the 1.3 billion Catholics in communion with the Pope, approximately 18 million are members of the eastern churches.
An exarch was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical.
An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese, or is a diocese, eparchy or similar permanent ordinariate that either has no bishop or, in very rare cases, has an incapacitated bishop.
The Catholic Church in Georgia, since the 11th-century East–West Schism, has been composed mainly of Latin Church Catholics; a very large community of the Armenian Catholic Church has existed in Georgia since the 18th century.
The Eritrean Catholic Church is a metropolitan sui iuris Eastern particular church headquartered in Asmara, Eritrea. It was established in 2015 by separation of its territory from that of the Ethiopian Catholic Church and the setting up in that territory of a new sui iuris metropolitan Eastern Catholic Church. It follows the Ge'ez form of the Alexandrian liturgical rite. Its strictly-speaking official name is "The Asmara metropolitan sui iuris Church".
The Slovak Greek Catholic Church, or Slovak Byzantine Catholic Church, is a metropolitan sui iuris Eastern Catholic particular church in full communion with the Catholic Church and the Pope of Rome. Its liturgical rite is the Byzantine Rite. In 2008 in Slovakia alone, the Slovak Greek Catholic Church had some 350,000 faithful, 374 priests and 254 parishes. In 2017, the Catholic Church counted 207,320 Slovak Greek Catholics worldwide, representing roughly one percent of all Eastern Catholics.
The Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Romania, based in Gherla, is an ordinariate for Eastern Catholic faithful that is part of the Armenian Catholic Church, itself under the authority of the Pope. It serves Catholic members of Romania's Armenian community living in Transylvania.
Today 84% of the population in Georgia practices Orthodox Christianity, primarily the Georgian Orthodox Church. Of these, around 2% follow the Russian Orthodox Church, around 5.9% follow the Armenian Apostolic Church and 0.8% are Catholics and are mainly found in the south of Georgia but with a small number in its capital, Tbilisi.
A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate, is an ordinariate, a canonical structure within the Catholic Church established in order to enable "groups of Anglicans" and Methodists to join the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their liturgical and spiritual patrimony.
A particular church is an ecclesiastical community of faithful headed by a bishop, as defined by Catholic canon law and ecclesiology. A liturgical rite, a collection of liturgies descending from shared historic or regional context, depends on the particular church the bishop belongs to. Thus "particular church" refers to an institution, and "liturgical rite" to its ritual practices.
The Eritrean Catholic Archeparchy of Asmara, officially the Archeparchy of Asmara, more informally Asmara of the Eritreans, is the metropolitan see of the Metropolitan Eritrean Catholic Church, a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church whose territory corresponds to that of the State of Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It depends on the Roman Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
The Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Greece or Armenian Catholic Ordinariate of Greece is an Armenian Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or ordinariate for the faithful of eastern rite of the Catholic Church for its faithful in Greece.
The Armenian Catholic Ordinariate of Eastern Europe is an Ordinariate (quasi-diocese) of the Armenian Catholic Church for its faithful in certain Eastern European ex-Soviet countries without proper Ordinary for their particular church sui iuris.
The Ordinariate for Eastern Catholics in Argentina is a Catholic Ordinariate for Eastern Catholic faithful, jointly for all Eastern Catholics, regardless of rite, living in Argentina.
The Ordinariate for Eastern (Rite) Catholics in France is a Catholic Ordinariate for Eastern Catholic faithful, jointly for Eastern Catholics in various rites and languages of particular churches sui iuris without proper jurisdiction there.
The Ordinariate for Eastern Catholics in Poland is the Ordinariate for Eastern Catholic faithful for the members of non-Latin rite-specific particular churches sui iuris in Poland, excepting Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which had its own church structure and Catholic Church of the Byzantine-Slavic rite, emerged in a Roman Catholic structure.
