Georgian Catholic Church

The Georgian Catholic Church was a Uniate with the Roman Catholic Church faith community, which recognized the Pope as their spiritual leader.

The Georgian- Byzantine Rite Catholic communities ' incurred as a result of the establishment of the monastery ( with school, receiving accommodation and other attachments) in Istanbul's Fatih district Feri QoA, but also in another establishment in the French Montauban. The former was launched by the Georgian monk Chariszhiraschwili Petre, who had fled from the Tsarist persecution of Georgian Catholics (1845-1850) in the years 1860-1861. Chariszhiraschwili was significantly involved in the second monastic foundation for Georgian Catholic clergy in France in the late 19th century.

The Uniate monastic foundations had been preceded by a long history of Georgian Catholics of the Latin rite. In Georgia, where the Franciscans and Dominicans were staying since 1233 since 1240, and where there had been a Latin diocese 1329-1507, began in 1626 to proselytize again. These efforts culminated in the form of Sulkhan - Saba Orbeliani. The mission took place with the expulsion of the missionaries by Tsarist Russia in 1845 to an end. Until then, the vast majority of Georgian Catholics were the Latin rite and a minority belonging to the Armenian. Only Tsar Nicholas II ordered the formation of a diocese for Southern Russia, which included Georgia, too. This created a problem because the Byzantine rite was used only by a minority and this was also not promoted much.

The Georgian Catholic Church, which had its headquarters in Tbilisi, already counted in 1920 only about 12,000 believers. The offspring of their parishioners today are Catholics of the Latin rite.

2002 in Tbilisi founded the Christian- ecumenical oriented " Sulkhan - Saba Orbeliani Institute for Theology, Philosophy, History and Culture" for the training of lay theologians and funded by Renovabis and the diocese Tbilisi. 2003, the Institute received state recognition. Rector is the dogmatist Vaja Vardidze.