In the Catholic Church, an exemption is the full or partial release of an ecclesiastical person, corporation, or institution from the authority of the ecclesiastical superior next higher in rank. For example, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Strasbourg, and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem are exempt, being directly subject to the Holy See.
See exempt dioceses for a list of exempt entities.
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An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often a promotion for a former apostolic prefecture, while either may have started out as a mission sui iuris. It is essentially provisional, though it may last for a century or more. The hope is that the region will generate sufficient numbers of Catholics for the Church to create a diocese one day.
It is exempt under canon law, directly subject to the missionary Dicastery for Evangelization of the Vatican in Rome. Like the stage of apostolic prefecture which often precedes it, the vicariate is not part of an ecclesiastical province. It is intended to mature in developing Catholic members until it can be promoted to a (usually suffragan) diocese.
The Diocese of Rieti (Latin: Dioecesis Reatina (-S. Salvatoris Maioris)) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. It is immediately exempt to the Holy See. Its cathedra is in St. Mary Cathedral in the episcopal see of Rieti.
A stauropegion, also spelled stavropegion (from Greek: σταυροπήγιον, in turn from σταυρός stauros lit. "cross" and πήγνυμι pegnumi lit. "to affirm"), is a monastery or a parish which depends directly on the primate or on the Holy Synod of a particular Church, and which is not under the jurisdiction of the local bishop. The name comes from the Byzantine tradition of summoning the Patriarch to place a cross at the foundation of stauropegic monasteries or parochial churches.
Such exempt jurisdictions, both monastic and parochial, are common in Eastern Christianity, mainly in Eastern Orthodox Churches, but also in some Eastern Catholic Churches. Their institutional counterparts in the Latin Rite ecclesiastical order of the Catholic Church are various exempt jurisdictions, such as monasteries directly subjected to the Holy See of Rome.
The Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, also known in the United States as the Byzantine Catholic Church, is a sui iuris (autonomous) Eastern Catholic particular church based in Eastern Europe and North America that is part of the worldwide Catholic Church and is in full communion with the Holy See. It uses the Byzantine Rite for its liturgies, laws, and cultural identity. The Church originated at the Union of Uzhhorod in 1646, when Orthodox East Slavs with a Rusyn identity in the Carpathian Mountains returned to communion with the Pope.
The Church does not have a unified structure. Its numerically largest jurisdiction is in Europe, the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo, which reemerged in Ukraine after having been suppressed by the Soviet Union. There is also the Apostolic Exarchate of the Greek Catholic Church in the Czech Republic, founded in 1996. Both of them are exempt territories immediately subject to the Holy See.
The Military Ordinariate of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Croatian: Vojni ordinarijat u Bosni i Hercegovini) is a Latin Church military ordinariate of the Catholic Church. Immediately exempt to the Holy See, it provides pastoral care to Catholics serving in Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and their families.
The Diocese of Orvieto-Todi (Latin: Dioecesis Urbevetana-Tudertina) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in central Italy. It was created in 1986 when the historical Diocese of Orvieto was united to the Diocese of Todi. The Diocese of Orvieto-Todi is immediately exempt to the Holy See and not part of any ecclesiastical province.