Roman Catholic Diocese of Nicopolis

The Diocese of Nicopolis^[b] (Latin: Dioecesis Nicopolitanus) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church, which includes the whole northern part of Bulgaria. The seat of the episcopal see is in Rousse, although the diocese is named after Nicopolis ad Istrum. The diocese is immediately subject of the Holy See.

Diocese of Nicopolis Dioecesis Nicopolitanus Епархия Никопол
Catholic
The Cathedral of St Paul of the Cross in Ruse, Bulgaria
Location
Country	Bulgaria
Metropolitan	Immediately Subject to the Holy See
Statistics
Area	43,241 km2 (16,695 sq mi)
Population Total Catholics	(as of 2021) 2,500,000[a] 25,000[a] (1%)
Parishes	21[a]
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	1648; 377 years ago (1648) (suffragan to Sofia)[2] 1789; 236 years ago (1789) (subject to the Holy See)
Cathedral	St Paul of the Cross Cathedral, Rousse
Secular priests	4 plus 9 religious priests[a]
Language	Bulgarian
Calendar	General Roman
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Bishop	Strahil Kavalenov
Website
diocesi-nicopoli.bg

The Diocese of Nicopolis building in Rousse

The current bishop is Strahil Kavalenov.^[1]

History

Originally erected in 1789, the diocese has not experienced any name changes, nor jurisdictional alterations.

List of ordinaries of the diocese of Nicopoli^[1][2][3]

Name	Appointed	Term End	Term end reason
Philippus Stanislaus	1648	1663
Francesco Sojmirović [sr]	1663	1673	Died
Philippus Stanislaus	1673	1674	Died[c]
Anton Stefanov (Stephani), O.F.M. Obs.	1677	1692	Died
Marko Andrijašević (Andreassi)	1717	1723	Appointed archbishop of Sardica (Sredek, Sofia)
Balthasar Lieschi	1724	unknown
Nicola Stanislavich, O.F.M. Obs.	1725	1740	Confirmed bishop of Csanád
Antun Becić	1743	1752	Resigned
Nicola Pugliesi	1752	1767	Appointed archbishop of Dubrovnik (Ragusa)
Sebastiano Canepa	1767	1769	Died
Giacomo Antonio Riccardini, O.F.M. Conv.	1771	1775	Resigned
Paul Dovanlia	1776	1804	Died
Francesco Maria Ferreri, C.P.	1805	1814	Died
Fortunato Maria Ercolani, C.P.	1815	1822	Appointed bishop of Civita Castellana, Orte e Gallese
Giuseppe-Maria Molajoni	1825	1847	Resigned
Angelo Parsi	1847	1863	Died
Antonius Jozef Pluym C.P.	1863	1870	Resigned
Ignazio Paoli, C.P.	1870	1883	Appointed archbishop (personal title) of Bucuresti
Ippolito Agosto, C.P.	1883	1893	Died
Henri Doulcet, C.P.	1895	1913	Resigned
Leonardo Baumbach, C.P.	1913	1915	Died
Damiaan Johannes Theelen, C.P.	1915	1946	Died
Blessed Eugene Bossilkov, C.P.	1947	1952	Died
Vasco Séirécov	1975	1977	Died
Samuel Dzhundrin, A.A.	1978[d]	1994	Retired
Petko Christov, O.F.M. Conv.	1994	2020	Died
Strahil Kavalenov	2021	present

See also

• Catholic Church in Bulgaria

Notes

1. Annuario Pontificio (2022) via Catholic-Hierarchy.org^[1]
2. Alternate spellings include Nicopoli and Nikopol
3. Year of death uncertain
4. Dzhundrin was appointed bishop in 1978, but not ordained and installed until 1979