Christianity has been present in Bulgaria since the early years of the common era. In that time, the religion hadn't yet divided to its present discohesion. With the progression of centuries, followers of Christ have taken separate paths, mostly due to human political dissidence and different traditions in worship.

It is said that even before the Great Schism between Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic) Christianity in 1054, Western Christian missionaries came to Bulgaria to try to persuade the nation of their way of faith.

Knyaz Boris I (r. 853-889), realising the cultural and political benefits of adopting Christianity as the official state religion, wavered for five years between the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Roman Pope before, in 870, the Fourth Council of Constantinople pronounced Bulgaria under the guidance of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and not Rome.

Bulgaria continued as an Eastern Christian nation without much contest until November 1204, when Tsar Kaloyan (r. 1197-1207) was crowned with the royal diadem by Cardinal Leo, legate of Pope Innocent III. This short-lived union between the Roman Catholic Church and Bulgaria was more of a political tactic attempting to balance the religious power of the Byzantine Empire. It ended in 1234, when Bulgaria and Rome went head-to-head. It is unclear as to which side started the conflict, but it resulted in Bulgaria re-establishing itself as Orthodox in 1235.

According to the 1987 book Istoriya na selo Burdarski geran (History of the Village Burdarski Geran), there was an attempt to Catholicise the north-west part of the country in 1366 as an after-effect of the Hungarian King Lajos (Louis) I's seizure of Bulgaria's Vidin. It is said that in a period of 30 days, 2000 people accepted Catholicism, but after Vidin was reconquered in 1369 and Tsar Stratsimir was restored to his throne, a large part of these converts left the country for Hungary.

There was, however, a true, permanent Catholicised remnant that remained around Chiprovtsi (in north-west Bulgaria).

During the second half of the 16th century, these Catholic villages still meaningfully existed, the book says. Around the same time, miners and merchants from Dubrovnik settled in the area, bringing Catholicism, to which they adhered, with them.

The Chiprovtsi region transformed into a hotbed of Catholic thought and national political rumination, with Bulgarian Franciscan priests inspiring in their flock a passion for political freedom from the Turks and a huge sense of Bulgarian national consciousness and pride.

Throughout these centuries, there was maintained an emphasis on culture and education in the Catholic settlements, with a number of young men, after finishing schooling in Bulgaria, continuing on to become members of the Franciscan order. It was these men who would play significant roles in the failed 1688 Chiprovtsi Uprising, the first major revolt against the Ottoman rule.

After Chiprovtsi, many from the area emigrated to the Banat area of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, forming legal Catholic settlements, where they remained until after Bulgaria gained its liberation in 1878.

According to Bishop Hristo Proikov, current apostolic exarch of the Bulgarian Catholic Church, the year 2006 marks the 400th anniversary of the first eparchy of the Catholic Church in the northern part of this country.

In the 17th century, Catholic missionaries went to the central and southern parts of the country, and , in one way or another, converted many members of the gnostic Christian sect Pavlikyani (Paulicianism, in English; related to Bogomilism) to Catholicism. This created the still-existing significant amount of Catholics in Plovdiv and environs.

After independence from the Ottomans, Catholics opened numerous schools, churches, colleges and hospitals, and offered scholarships for studying abroad. They also received support from Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, himself a Catholic.

Catholic prosecution under communism was due not only to the anti-religion mindset of the political ideal, but also to the fact that it is not Eastern. Anything anti-Russian was seen, by communists, as anti-Bulgarian. It was considered a religion of fascism.

In 1949, foreign priests were forbidden to preach in Bulgaria, and the papal nuncio was forbidden to enter the country.

In 1952 the Catholic Trials occurred, in which 60 priests were convicted of working for Western intelligence. Four were executed. Bishop Evgenii Bosilkov, one of the four martyred, was declared by Pope John-Paul II in 1998 as the first Bulgarian Venerable. During his 2002 visit to this country, the Pope proclaimed the three other priests also Venerable.

When, after the changes of 1989-90, a count was taken of Roman Catholics in Bulgaria in 1991, they numbered 44 000. Now, according to estimations, there are between 70 000-80 000.

Currently, the country is divided into three dioceses: Sofia-Plovdiv, with 34 000 Catholics (0.68 per cent of the area's entire population); Nicopoli, with 30 000 (one per cent); and Sofia (Byzantine) Apostolic Exarchate, with 10 000 Catholics. As a total of the population, Catholics form about 0.6 per cent.

The modern Sophiae et Philippopolis diocese was erected in 1758 as the Vicarate Apostolic of Sofia and Plovdiv. On March 3 1979, it was elevated to its current status. Bishop Georgi Yovchev now leads the diocese.

In 1789, the Diocese of Nicopoli, based in Rousse, was erected. Its present bishop is Petko Hristov, who is also president of Caritas Bulgaria.

With the help of Archbishop Angelo Roncalli, the Sofia (Byzantine) Apostolic Exarchate was erected in 1926. Roncalli was named Bulgaria's apostolic visitator in 1925, and later became the country's apostolic delegate, a position in which he served til 1934. In 1958, he was named Pope John XXIII. Bishop Hristo Proikov is now at its head.

The opening of the Sveti Yosif (Saint Joseph) Cathedral on May 21 2006, which replaces the original Sveti Yosif that was bombed out on March 30 1944, shows that Catholicism in Bulgaria will continue to flourish.