Bogdan Severin, who made periodic visits to Sukhumi, the sermons and provide charitable assistance to local Catholics. Catholic services were held at that time in the club Sukhumi Botanical Garden. In 1996 the church was transferred to the surviving Catholic community. Since that time, it began to make regular worship. Today Nowadays the Catholic community of Abkhazia has 150 people (80 people live in Sukhumi). Most of them are Armenians and Poles. There are small groups of Catholics in Gagra and Pitsunda. In Sukhumi are the resident Catholic priest Jerzy Pillas and Catholic Charities' Caritas. After partial recognition of canonical status of Abkhazia, the Catholic community in Sukhumi is not defined. Currently, the Catholic parish in Sukhumi included the Apostolic Administration of the Caucasus. Abkhazia had twice an official visit of the papal nuncio Claudio Gugerotti in October 2005 and 4 January 2006, who met with the Abkhaz leadership. In the 2011 decision of the Government of Abkhazia, Catholic community in the name of Saint Simon the Zealot in Sukhumi was transferred to the gratuitous use of the church building, part of a number of historical and cultural heritage of Abkhazia. There are no diplomatic relations between Vatican and Abkhazia. Notes References The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol 1, ed. Franciscans, M., 2002, External links http://www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/179919/ http://www.sedmitza.ru/news/337223.html https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025759/http://www.abhazia.com/snews.php?action=news&id_cat=1&id_mess=13339 Abkhazia