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The Catholic Church is "the Catholic Communion of Churches, both Roman and Eastern, or Oriental, that are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome (the pope)." The church is also known by members as the
People of God ''People of God'' ( he, עם האלהים) is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to refer to the Israelites and used in Christianity to refer to Christians. In the Bible Hebrew Bible and Old Testament In the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the Isr ...
, the
Body of Christ In Christian theology, the term Body of Christ () has two main but separate meanings: it may refer to Jesus' words over the bread at the celebration of the Jewish feast of Passover that "This is my body" in (see Last Supper), or it may refer ...
, the "Temple of the Holy Spirit", among other names. According to Vatican II's , the "church has but one sole purpose–that the kingdom of God may come and the salvation of the human race may be accomplished." This communion of churches comprises the
Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...
(or the Roman or Western Church) as well as 23
Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of th ...
, canonically called '' sui juris'' churches, each led by either a patriarch or a
major archbishop In the Eastern Catholic Churches, major archbishop (sometimes also styled as major archeparch) is a title for the chief hierarch of an autonomous (''sui juris'') particular Church that has not been "endowed with the patriarchal title". Major arch ...
in full communion with the
Bishop of Rome A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
. Historically, these bodies separated from Eastern Christian communions, either to remain in or to return to full communion with the Catholic Church. Vatican II decree on Eastern Catholic Churches, however, explicitly recognizes Eastern Catholic communities as "true Churches" and not just
rite Rite may refer to: * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite of passage, a ceremonious act associated with social transition Religion * Rite (Christianity), a sacred ritual or liturgical tradition in various Christian denominations * Cath ...
s within the Catholic Church. This Communion of Churches "exists among and between the individual Churches and dioceses of the universal Catholic Church. Its structural expression is the College of Bishops, each of whom represents and embodies his own local church." In addition to Eastern Catholic Churches, the Catholic Church oversees the Catholic Charismatic renewal, the largest Charismatic movement of a single institution in 2020, with over 100 million members, primarily in the Global South. The Catholic Church is also described as an "amalgam of parts" (i.e., thousands of individual dioceses, religious orders, etc.) globally dispersed, but in communion with Rome. The Catholic Church is the "world's oldest continuously functioning ''international'' institution." It is also the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world, while the diplomatic status of the Holy See facilitates the access of its vast international network of
charities A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...
. Some of these entities include 5,000 hospitals, 10,000 orphanages, 95,000 elementary schools, and 47,000 secondary schools.


Methodology

Most of the figures are taken from the CIA Factbook or PEW Research Center Surveys. In Latin American countries, Latinobarometro is often cited. In Germany and other German speaking regions of Europe, there are official membership statistics due to the fact that the government collects a
church tax A church tax is a tax collected by the state from members of some religious denominations to provide financial support of churches, such as the salaries of its clergy and to pay the operating cost of the church. The constitution of a number of ...
based on these membership lists. One's baptismal certificate or any other religious document is secondary to church statistics. This method might explain the discrepancy between Pew's figures on Germany and the church figures. According to the
CIA Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is availabl ...
and the Pew Research Center, the five countries with the largest number of Catholics are, in decreasing order of Catholic population : * Brazil * Mexico * Philippines * United States * Italy The country where the membership of the church is the largest percentage of the population is Vatican City at 100%, followed by East Timor at 97%. According to the Census of the 2020 ''
Annuario Pontificio The ''Annuario Pontificio'' (Italian for ''Pontifical Yearbook'') is the annual directory of the Holy See of the Catholic Church. It lists the popes in chronological order and all officials of the Holy See's departments. It also provides name ...
'' (Pontifical Yearbook), the number of baptized Catholics in the world was about 1.329 billion at the end of 2018. The research initiative Catholics & Cultures compiles data on Catholic demographics, including from the Annuario Pontificio, by country. Conflicting numbers can be found in 2013 research conducted by the Brazilian polling institute
Datafolha Datafolha is Grupo Folha's polling institute, founded in 1983 as the research department of Empresa Folha da Manhã S. A., and later on became a separate company able to serve external clients, from 1990. In 1995, it became a separate business unit ...
. This report states that the percentage of the population in Brazil of Catholic religion, over the age of 16 years, is just 57%, in contrast to the 64.63% published by CIA and to the 68.6% of Pew Research Center. Also, the 2010 Mexican Census showed this percentage to be 83.9%against a 91.89% number in the CIA World Factbook.


By country

''By clicking on the icons in the column titles, the table can be re-ordered by column.''


By dependent territory


By region

These percentages were calculated by using the above numbers. The first percentage, 4th column, is the percentage of population that is Catholic in a region (number in the region x 100 / total population of the region). The last column shows the national Catholic percentage compared to the total Catholic population of the world (number in the region x 100 / total RC population of the world).


Africa


Americas


Asia


Europe


Middle East


Oceania


See also

* The term ''Roman Catholic'' * *
Christianity by country As of the year 2020, Christianity had approximately 2.4 billion adherents and is the largest-religion by population respectively. According to a PEW estimation in 2020, Christians made up to 2.4 billion of the worldwide population of about 7. ...
*
List of Catholic archdioceses The following is a current list of Catholic archdioceses ordered by continent and country (for the Latin Church) and by liturgical rite (for the Eastern Catholic Churches). Many smaller countries, as well as large countries with small Cathol ...
(by country and continent) *
List of Catholic dioceses (alphabetical) This is a growing list of territorial Catholic dioceses and ordinariates in communion with the Holy See. There are approximately 3,000 actual (i.e., non-titular) dioceses in the Catholic Church (including the eparchies of the Eastern Catholic C ...
(including archdioceses) *
List of Catholic dioceses (structured view) As of October 5, 2021, the Catholic Church in its entirety comprises 3,171 ecclesiastical jurisdictions, including over 652 archdioceses and 2,248 dioceses, as well as apostolic vicariates, apostolic exarchates, apostolic administrations, apos ...
(including archdioceses) *
List of Christian denominations by number of members This is a list of Christian denominations by number of members. It is inevitably partial and generally based on claims by the denominations themselves. The numbers should therefore be considered approximate and the article an ongoing work-in-pro ...
*
List of living cardinals Cardinals are senior members of the clergy of the Catholic Church. They are almost always bishops and generally hold important roles within the church, such as leading prominent archdioceses or heading dicasteries within the Roman Curia. Ca ...
(sortable by name, country, and birthdate) * List of popes *
List of religious populations This is a list of religious populations by number of adherents and countries. Adherents in 2020 Notes By proportion Christians Countries and territories with the greatest proportion of Christians from Christianity by country, : # 100 ...
* State religion#Roman Catholicism *
Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of th ...


References


External links

{{Religion country lists