The Roman Catholic Church in Turkey

There are approximately 35,000 Roman Catholics in Turkey, constituting around 0.05% of the total population.  (This is from the Wikipedia entry, Roman Catholicism in Turkey.) It is a bit difficult to get details on all the churches, but I'm giving whatever information I can find.

Latin Rite

Please note that most American Catholics are only familiar with the Latin Rite.  There are also many Eastern Rite Catholic Churches in union with Rome in the United States, but the whole Eastern Rite Catholic world off the radar of most ordinary Catholics.  There are approximately 11,000 Eastern Rite Catholics (6,000 Chaldean and 3,700 Armenian, and a tiny population of Byzantine Catholics in Istanbul.)

There are three Latin Rite jurisdictions in Turkey (information from the Catholic Hierarchy website for Turkey, and GigaCatholic Information, both being unofficial and private but well maintained source of information worldwide):

• the Archdiocese of Izmir (Smirne), headed by Archbishop Ruggero Franceschini, O.F.M.Cap., with about 10 parishes and approximately 2,000 Catholics;
  
• the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia, headed by Bishop Luigi Padovese, O.F.M.Cap, with about 11 parishes and approximately 5,000 Catholics; and
  
• the Apostolic Vicariate of Istanbul, headed by Bishop Louis Prelatre, A.A., with about 13 parishes and approximately 15,000 Catholics.
  

The official numbers of Catholics, given in different sources, don't add up, but there's a great deal of difficulty getting an accurate count.  It's also difficult to get an accurate count even of the numbers of active churches at which Mass might be available.  The difference between an Archdiocese and an Apostolic Vicariate is rather technical and need not concern us here.  An Archdiocese has more local autonomy, while an Apostolic Vicariate, is directlty under the control of Rome.  Note also that there is a Papal Nuncio (essentially a Vatican Ambassador) to Turkey who has offices in Ankara.  Archbishop Giuseppe Roncalli, later Pope John XXIII, was Papal Nuncio from 1935 to 1944, and much beloved by the Turks, who still call him "our Turkish Pope."  At that time, he lived at the Papal Nunciature behind the Cathedral in Istanbul, and the city later renamed the street "Papa Roncalli."

Only the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia maintains an official (and very good) website.  Almost all of the site is in English, as well as Turkish and Italian.  It not only lists the churches in the various cities in its jurisdiction, but also has a lot of colorful background information.  Unfortunately, neither the Archdiocese of Izmir nor the Apostolic Vicariate of Istanbul maintains a website, so information has to be pieced together from a variety of sources.

I will also work on the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches after compiling a list of the Latin Rite Catholic Churches, which are on a separate post, Directory of Catholic Churches in Turkey.