Georgian Catholic Church

The Georgian Catholic Church (or Catholic Church in Georgia), since the 11th century East-West Schism, has been composed mainly of Latin Rite Catholics; Georgian Catholic communities of the Armenian Rite have existed in the country since the 18th century.
A Georgian Byzantine Rite Catholic community, though small, has existed for a number of centuries but does not, however, constitute an autonomous ("sui iuris") Church.

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, but with a territory greater than that of Georgia. It estimates the number of its faithful as 50,000, a number very similar to that given for Georgian Catholics of all rites in 1914. Georgians of Armenian Rite are in the care of the Ordinariate for Armenian Catholics in Eastern Europe, which was established on 13 July 1991. This ordinariate, which covers an area, including Russia and Ukraine, much vaster than Georgia, has some 400,000 faithful in all (Annuario Pontificio 2012).
Kevin R. Yurkus [Crisis Magazine, July 2005] provides the following pertaining to the Georgian Byzantine Catholic Church:
Membership: 7,000
The Georgian Church began in 337 and used the Syriac Rite of St. James. When the neighboring Armenians rejected the Council of Chalcedon, the Georgians accepted the conciliar decrees and adopted the Byzantine Rite.
Theatine and Capuchin missionaries worked for reunion in Georgia, but under Imperial Russia in 1845, Catholics were not allowed to use the Byzantine Rite. Many Catholics adopted the Armenian Rite until the institution of religious liberty in 1905, which allowed them to return to the Byzantine Rite. In 1937 the Georgian Catholic exarch was executed by the Soviets.
At present, the Georgian Catholic Church has no organized hierarchy.

 There are approximately 80,000 Catholics in Georgia - around 2% of the total population. They are mostly found either in Tbilisi or in the southern region of the country, where exclusively Catholic villages exist. There are two Catholic churches in Tbilisi; the Cathedral of Our Lady in the old historical part of Tbilisi, and the parish church of St Peter and St Paul. A Neocatechumenal Way Mission involving priests, families in mission and lay persons has been present in Sts Peter and Paul church since 1991, helping and leading the parish.
The Catholics in Tbilisi are mostly Georgians and Armenians, as well as a small Assyrian community of the Chaldean Rite.
This church also provides mass in English, catering for the growing Catholic expatriate population of Americans, Europeans, Indians and Maltese. There are only about 1000 practising Catholics in Tbilisi. Many other Catholic churches were confiscated by the Georgian Orthodox Church after the fall of communism when the state gave all church property back to the Georgian Orthodox church. Recently, a new seminary has been completed on the outskirts of Tbilisi
A Catholic church is also present in Sukhumi, in Abkhazia. Other Catholic Churches are found in Vale, Gori and in Batumi.