Georgian Catholic Church as it was called the Georgian Catholics, who followed the Eastern (Byzantine) Rite. There were Georgian Catholics of Byzantine Rite since 1860 (Georgian Catholics of Latin Rite there were since 1240), they founded the monastery Fery-Quoa in Constantinople (it exists still and is today in private hands).

Two religious congregations of the Immaculate Conception were founded in 1861 also in Constantinople by Father Peter Karishiaranti (Pétre Kharistshirashvili) to work among the Catholics of Georgia of both Byzantine and Latin rites, but they were impeded in their work by the seizure of Georgia by the Russian Soviets.

In 1917 when Georgia cut off ecclesiastical ties from the Moscow Patriarchate and some Georgians closed to already existing Georgian Catholic Church Byzantine Rite. The number of them was c. 10 000 in 1920, whereas there were 40 000 of the Latin Rite. The Georgian Catholics of Byzantine Rite ceased to exist in the Soviet times, the remnants of the Catholic community are members

Historically, the Catholics in Georgia are mainly of the Latin Rite, although Catholics of other traditions are also found there. Christianity in Georgia began with the evangelization of St. Nino in the fourth century. Georgian Christianity gradually developed in the Byzantine Orthodox tradition, although contact with Rome did occur. The Great Schism did not immediately end contacts between Georgia and Rome, although the break was recognized by the mid-thirteenth century. Around this time, Catholic missionaries became active in Georgia.

The first Latin-Rite bishopric was established in 1329 at Tbilisi, but this was allowed to lapse after the appointment of the fourteenth and last of its line of bishops in 1507, owing to a lack of support among Georgians. In 1626, the Theatine and Capuchin orders established missions in Georgia. In the following centuries a community of Latin Catholics began to form, members of this community commonly being referred to as "French", which was the dominant nationality of the missionaries. Both orders were expelled by the Russian government in 1845.

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Earlier, Father Peter Karishiaranti (Pétre Kharistshirashvili) founded in 1861 two religious congregations of the Immaculate Conception, one for men, the other for women. These served Georgian Catholics living in Constantinople. These congregations are now extinct, although some of their members were still alive in the late 1950s. The building that housed the male congregation, Fery-Quoa, still stands in Istanbul. They were under the authority of the local Catholic bishop in Constantinople.

At the outbread of the First World War, Georgian Catholics were some 50,000. About 40,000 of these were of Latin rite, the others of eastern (mainly Armenian) rite. Juridically, they depended on the Latin diocese of Tiraspol, which had its headquarters at Saratov on the Volga.

In the brief period of Georgian independence between 1918 and 1925, some influential Georgians expressed an interest in union with the Church of Rome, and an envoy was sent from Rome in 1919 to examine the situation. As a result of the onset of civil war and Soviet occupation, this came to nothing.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union an apostolic administration (of Latin Rite) of the Caucasus was established on 30 December 1993, with headquarters in the Georgian capital. In 2003, it had 50,050 faithful.

Sources

• Oriente Cattolico (Vatican City: The Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches, 1974)
• Annuario Pontificio.