The current state of episcopal lineages – updated 1 May 2016

As of May 1, 2016, there are approximately 5, 330 living bishops in the Roman Catholic and the several Eastern Catholic sui iuris Churches; that is, bishops in communion with the Bishop of Rome. The overwhelming majority of these bishops trace their orders to Scipione Rebiba who was ordained a bishop in 1541.

Approximately 174 bishops belong to lines of the various Eastern Catholic sui iuris Churches: Chaldeans, Maronites, Melkites, Syro-Malankars, and Ukrainians. Among this small number of bishops are found eleven Roman-rite bishops belonging to the Maronite line and eleven Roman-rite bishops belonging to the Chaldean line.

The bishops of the Armenian, Bulgarian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Ruthenian, Slovak, and Syro-Malabar sui iuris Churches belong to the Rebiban line with the exception of one Slovak bishop who belongs to the Ukrainian line. Similarly, one Maronite bishop – a former apostolic nuncio – and eight Ukrainian bishops belong to the Rebiban line.

The four small active Roman-rite lines account for a total of 45 bishops, divided as follows:

*the Ravizza line – 4 living members

*the de Bovet line – 9 living members

*the von Bodman line – 10 living membes

*the d’Estouteville lines – 22 living members

Lists of the bishops belonging to each of these lines as well as examples of these lineages have been added to this blog. Research to find information which will extend each of these lines as well as the Rebiba line is ongoing.

In summary, approximately 96% of Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic bishops belong to the Rebiba line; 3.2% belong to one of the several Eastern Catholic lines; and 0.8% belong to one of the other four active Roman-rite lines.