The Catholic Patriarchs of the East are generally speaking the head bishops of some of the autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches.

Some historians label this era as the 'Jilu period', as three of the last five Catholic Patriarchs were from the Jilu Tribe.

(See List of Armenian Catholic Patriarchs of Cilicia)

Although the numbers of Latins always remained small, there was a Roman Catholic Patriarch.

From 1986 to 2006 he served as the Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria.

The Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria (Coptic Catholic Church)

The Syrian Catholic Patriarch of Antioch (Syrian Catholic Church)

The current Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria is Archbishop Antonios Naguib.

On September 19, 1791 the patriarchal See was moved from Mardin to Al-Charfet; it is still used as the summer abode of the Syrian Catholic Patriarch.

The move tends to be supported by those people who favour the appointment of a Ukrainian Catholic Patriarch to oversee the Ukrainian Catholic Church.