On 15 January 1991 Pope John Paul II reactivated, being currently 600 years old, the Metropolitan
Archdiocese of Lvov of the Latin Rite. Marian Jaworski was appointed its first Archbishop.
The Archdiocese was erected in 1375 with its seat in Halych and it was moved to Lvov in 1412
in difficult conditions in the Latin and Byzantine borderland. The aim of this article is to present
the rich tradition of the Roman Catholic Church and her creative presence for 600 hundred years
on the territory of the present Western Ukraine. The main threads of this article are as follows:
the nationality of the “Ruthenian” land in the Middle Ages, Latin missionary bishops in Ruthenia,
the erection of a Metropolis of Halych of the Latin Rite, the transfer of the seat of the Metropolis to
Lvov in 1412 and its further development, jurisdiction of Bishops of Lebus in Ruthenia and the participation
of the Franciscans and Dominicans in the erection of the diocese and in the Christianization
of Ruthenia
