{"id":43415,"date":"2026-03-25T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/nieuws\/pope-leo-hails-250th-anniversary-of-3-slovak-dioceses-carved-from-the-habsburgs\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:00:00","slug":"pope-leo-hails-250th-anniversary-of-3-slovak-dioceses-carved-from-the-habsburgs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/en\/nieuws\/pope-leo-hails-250th-anniversary-of-3-slovak-dioceses-carved-from-the-habsburgs\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo hails 250th anniversary of 3 Slovak dioceses carved from the Habsburgs"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROME \u2014 This year marks the 250th anniversary of three dioceses in Slovakia, then part of the Hungarian monarchy: Bansk\u00e1 Bystrica, Ro\u017e\u0148ava, and Spi\u0161.<\/p>\n

On the occasion, Pope Leo XIV wrote a letter<\/a> to the Diocese of Bansk\u00e1 Bystrica, saying: \u201cThe diocesan community has remained faithful also in a time of trial, protected the Gospel, and passed it on from generation to generation.\u201d The pope expressed hope the diocese will grow as a community and in mission \u201cto witness Christ, serve the weakest, and pass on the joy of the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter was presented on March 14 as Archbishop Nicola Girasoli, apostolic nuncio to Slovakia, celebrated a Mass in Bansk\u00e1 Bystrica.<\/p>\n

The three dioceses were officially established on March 13, 1776, carved out of the vast territory of the Archdiocese of Esztergom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not just an administrative decision but a pastoral response\u201d to be \u201ccloser to people, to their daily lives,\u201d and \u201cto preach the Gospel more effectively and with greater proximity,\u201d the current bishop of Spi\u0161, Franti\u0161ek Trstensk\u00fd, wrote<\/a> in a pastoral letter. On March 13, he inaugurated a special diocesan jubilee.<\/p>\n

He hopes for his parishes to become \u201cplaces of closeness\u201d and \u201cunited community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us not be afraid to talk about faith and the Gospel in public life,\u201d as it is not a private matter, he said. Faith \u201cmanifests concretely in forgiveness, honesty, service, and peace in the midst of turmoil,\u201d the bishop underscored.<\/p>\n

Events are also planned in the other two dioceses, including historical conferences, special Masses, pilgrimages, and an exposition of a replica of the Shroud of Turin.<\/p>\n

The empress, the archdiocese, and a dubious document<\/h2>\n

Back in the 18th century, \u201cThe Esztergom Archdiocese did not want to separate,\u201d Cardinal Jozef Tomko (1924\u20132022), former prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, noted in his book \u201cNa \u017eivotn\u00fdch cest\u00e1ch\u201d (\u201cOn Life\u2019s Roads\u201d).<\/p>\n

The reorganization was the initiative of Habsburg sovereign Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary. She was a devout Catholic who \u201chad information from good priests that it was absolutely necessary for effective pastoral work of those territories,\u201d wrote Tomko, who as a priest completed doctoral research on the question.<\/p>\n

The original document by Empress Maria Theresa relating to the establishment of the Diocese of Bansk\u00e1 Bystrica in Slovakia is displayed at the diocesan archive. | Credit: Archive of the Diocese of Bansk\u00e1 Bystrica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the time, some invoked a dubious claim regarding the \u201cright\u201d of the Hungarian sovereigns: that Pope Sylvester II had allegedly granted in a bull the right to the first king of Hungary, St. Stephen, and to his successors, to found dioceses and nominate bishops. The document is now generally considered a forgery.<\/p>\n

Yet, \u201cit credibly imitated the style of the Roman Curia, which could have easily misled people,\u201d Tomko wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cA custom had existed since the Middle Ages, respected by the Apostolic See, that a Hungarian king appointed bishops who were subsequently confirmed by the Apostolic See,\u201d Dominican Father Viliam \u0160tefan D\u00f3ci, president of the Historical Institute of the Order of Preachers in Rome, told EWTN News.<\/p>\n

Over time, \u201cthe kings increasingly claimed not only the right to appoint Church dignitaries but also to regulate Church affairs in other ways,\u201d D\u00f3ci continued.<\/p>\n

Although the title \u201capostolic king\u201d for King Stephen \u201cdoes not correspond to historical reality, the fact is that Pope Clement XIII granted this title\u201d to Maria Theresa and \u201cto her successors in 1758,\u201d the Dominican priest explained.<\/p>\n

Maria Theresa was thus \u201cencouraged\u201d to pursue the reform of the Church\u2019s organization in the Central European monarchy, where she also founded other dioceses, D\u00f3ci said.<\/p>\n

The whole matter \u201cwas complicated from a Church and legal viewpoint,\u201d since the monarchs asked the popes \u201cfor the confirmation of their acts.\u201d At the same time, \u201cthe founding documents, issued by the Apostolic See, were formulated\u201d in a way that made it appear \u201cas if it was the pope who came up with the initiative,\u201d stressed D\u00f3ci, who teaches at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.<\/p>\n

Both the historian and Tomko agree it was primarily Maria Theresa who drove the creation of the three dioceses \u2014 and that formal approval from Rome followed.<\/p>\n

\n

Young Slovak martyr of communism reaches global audience<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Similar patterns existed in other monarchies, where sovereigns at times intervened \u201ceven more radically\u201d in Church affairs \u201cout of the conviction that it was part of their royal authority \u2014 and that it also belonged to their duties \u2014 to take care of the functioning of the Church on their lands,\u201d D\u00f3ci concluded.<\/p>\n

8 centuries of faith<\/h2>\n

Slovakia has another ancient Church province worth noting: the Diocese of Nitra, founded \u2014 according to historians \u2014 in A.D. 880 as the oldest Slavic diocese and later renewed as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Esztergom. <\/p>\n

Today, there are eight Roman Catholic dioceses and three Greek Catholic church provinces in Slovakia.<\/p>\n

During the communist regime in Hungary in the 20th century, certain historians took an interest in the question of the Hungarian royal \u201cright,\u201d Tomko recalled. They attempted, he said, to \u201cprove\u201d that the dubious privilege of the kings had passed, after the end of the monarchy in 1918, to the leaders of a totalitarian regime in Hungary \u2014 which \u201cwould be a strong argument for communists,\u201d Tomko said, implying they could have used it to legitimize state control of the Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROME \u2014 This year marks the 250th anniversary of three dioceses in Slovakia, then part of the Hungarian monarchy: Bansk\u00e1 Bystrica, Ro\u017e\u0148ava, and Spi\u0161. On the occasion, Pope Leo XIV wrote a letter to the Diocese of Bansk\u00e1 Bystrica, saying: \u201cThe diocesan community has remained faithful also in a time of trial, protected the Gospel, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":43416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"bron":[41],"class_list":["post-43415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nieuws","bron-cna"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/43415-pope-leo-hails-250th-anniversary-of-3-slovak-dioceses-carved-from-the-habsburgs-300x200.png","large":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/43415-pope-leo-hails-250th-anniversary-of-3-slovak-dioceses-carved-from-the-habsburgs-1024x683.png","thumbnail":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/43415-pope-leo-hails-250th-anniversary-of-3-slovak-dioceses-carved-from-the-habsburgs-150x150.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/43415-pope-leo-hails-250th-anniversary-of-3-slovak-dioceses-carved-from-the-habsburgs-768x512.png","1536x1536":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/43415-pope-leo-hails-250th-anniversary-of-3-slovak-dioceses-carved-from-the-habsburgs-1536x1025.png","Inhoud breed":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/43415-pope-leo-hails-250th-anniversary-of-3-slovak-dioceses-carved-from-the-habsburgs-860x574.png","echo_preview_image":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/43415-pope-leo-hails-250th-anniversary-of-3-slovak-dioceses-carved-from-the-habsburgs-219x146.png"},"appp_media":null,"yoast_head":"\nPope Leo hails 250th anniversary of 3 Slovak dioceses carved from the Habsburgs - ExploreCatholic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/en\/nieuws\/pope-leo-hails-250th-anniversary-of-3-slovak-dioceses-carved-from-the-habsburgs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Leo hails 250th anniversary of 3 Slovak dioceses carved from the Habsburgs - ExploreCatholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ROME \u2014 This year marks the 250th anniversary of three dioceses in Slovakia, then part of the Hungarian monarchy: Bansk\u00e1 Bystrica, Ro\u017e\u0148ava, and Spi\u0161. 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