Catholic Church in Turkmenistan

The Catholic Church in Turkmenistan is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.

History

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All Catholic infrastructure in the country was destroyed by Soviet revolutionaries in the 1920s.[1] In 1997 a request was made to recognize the local Catholic community, but was refused since the local church was not headed by a Turkmen.[1] In July 2010, the Catholic Mission received official government recognition and plans were started to both ask permission to build a Catholic church, and to reclaim a Catholic Armenian church in Turkmenbasy that still stands in the west of the country, as well as a church building in Sendar.[1] In the early 2000s, Mass was celebrated at the apostolic nunciature in the capital and at parishioners' homes.[2]

In 2020, there were 3 priests in the country, serving 300 Catholics in one parish.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Fides Staff (2010-07-15). "ASIA/TURKMENISTAN - Local Catholic Church receives official government recognition". Fides. Archived from the original on 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
  2. ^ Fides Staff (2006-09-15). "ASIA/TURKMENISTAN - Minute Catholic community in a land of first evangelisation, despite little religious freedom and no place of worship, dreams of building its own church one day soon". Fides. Archived from the original on 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  3. ^ Catholics and Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-08