Holy See and Montenegro Establish Diplomatic Relations

On Saturday 16 December 2006, the Holy See released a communiqué on the establishing of diplomatic relations with the Republic of Montenegro. An apostolic nunciature will be founded there and in Vatican, an embassy of Montenegro will be set.Full text of the news in Czech: HERE.

Vatican: The communiqué also recalls some historic moments of the mutual relationship: 'in 1852, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia recognized Montenegro as a secular Principality' and 'in 1886, a convention was signed by the Principality and the Holy See, in which the Catholic Church was officially recognized.' After the World War II, Montenegro became one of the six republics of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As Yugoslavia disintegrated between 1991 and 1995, Montenegro remained united to Serbia; from 2003 it became the Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

On 3 June 2006, the Montenegrin parliament ratified the results of May referendum calling for independence and thus declared the independent Republic of Montenegro. The Holy See recognized Montenegro on 19 June 2006 and on 28 June it became a member of the United Nations.

Currently, the country has two Catholic ecclesiastical circumscriptions: the archdiocese of Bar is subject to the Holy See and has 11,500 Catholics, mostly Albanians, 19 parishes, 12 priests and 34 female religious. The diocese of Kotor is suffragan of Split, Croatia, and has 10,000 Catholics, mostly Croats, 23 parishes, 15 priests and 31 female religious. The two ordinaries belong to the International Episcopal Conference of Ss Cyril and Methodius.