Pope Francis elevated the Apostolic Administration of Estonia to a Diocese and appointed Mgr Philippe Jourdan, currently Apostolic Administrator of Estonia, as first Bishop of Tallin. “Roman Catholicism has existed on Estonian territory for at least 8 centuries, but – a statement explains – the Catholic community was only constituted as a proper circumscription in the Roman-Catholic Church in 1924, when Pope Pius XI established the Apostolic Administration of Estonia and the Catholics of Estonia were no longer under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Riga. The Catholic community at that time was very small, about 2,000 Catholics. At the time, it was not possible to create a diocese but only a temporary structure, an Apostolic Administration, which took care of the religious life of Catholics in Estonia. The fact of becoming a diocese “testifies to the stability of the situation of the Catholic Church in Estonia, and is also a recognition by the Catholic Church of the pastoral and organisational maturity of the Estonian Catholic community. This means that the local Catholic Church in Estonia has developed the human, material and spiritual resources necessary to fully assume the responsibilities of a diocese”.

This change is also “an acknowledgement of the growth and importance of the Estonian Catholic community”. And it strengthens “its spiritual and missionary spirit among the people of God in the territory of the Estonian Republic”. According to the Estonian national census, about 0.78% of the population is Catholic, and it is one of the few Churches in Europe experiencing steady growth.