A special ceremony with a mass in the centre of Celje marked the inauguration of a new diocese in this eastern city and the appointment of its new Bishop Anton Stres on Sunday.
The ceremony was led by the recently-elevated Archbishop of Maribor and Metropolitan Franc Kramberger, who also conferred a bishop's crosier on Stres.
Moreover, a part of the Pope's letter on the establishment of new dioceses in Slovenia was read in Latin and Slovenian by Apostolic Nuncio to Slovenia Santos Abril y Castelo and Celje abbot Marjan Jezernik.
Kramberger said that Celje holds an honourable position in Slovenian history, also marked 160 ago by the arrival of the beatified bishop Anton Martin Slomsek.
He added that during and after WWII thousands of "martyrs, who proved their love for their country" were born in the Celje region. "Maybe reconciliation will prove to be the calling of this diocese," Kramberger concluded.
Stres pointed out that the occasion was a historic moment as Celje is becoming an episcopal city again after 1,400 years.
He also remembered two saints that lived in Celje and outlined three main guidelines for the diocese's future, namely trust, cooperation and joy.
Celje is one of three new dioceses in Slovenia established by Pope Benedict XVI at the beginning of April, with the other two based in the cities of Novo mesto (SE) and Murska Sobota (NE).
This decision has doubled the number of dioceses in the country, the old ones being Ljubljana (established in 1461), Maribor (1228) and Koper (tracing its origin to the 6th century).
All three dioceses formed one metropolitan unit (with the archbishop of Ljubljana also acting as Slovenian metropolitan) between November 1968 and 7 April 2006, when the Pope raised the diocese of Maribor to metropolitan archdiocese.
The third largest diocese in the country, Celje will have 112 parishes run by 105 priests. It has 287,529 residents, with 235,367 of them Roman Catholic.
Following the Celje inauguration, the diocese of Novo mesto will be inaugurated on 10 June and Murska Sobota on 25 June. Archbishop Kramberger will receive his metropolitan ropes on 24 September in what will be the culmination of inauguration ceremonies.
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