, native_name_lang = de , image = Wien_-_Stephansdom_(3).JPG , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = St. Stephen's Cathedral,

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Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, orientation = , scripture = , theology = , polity = Episcopal , governance =

Episcopal Conference of Austria The Austrian Bishops' Conference (german: Österreichische Bischofskonferenz) is the official assembly of the Roman Catholic bishops of Austria. It is the supreme authority of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria, established as a formal body und ...

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Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

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Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

, leader_title1 = Chairman , leader_name1 =

Franz Lackner Franz Lackner (born 14 July 1956) is an Austrian prelate who has been Archbishop of Salzburg since 2013. In June 2020 he was elected the president of the Austrian Bishops' Conference. Life Franz Lackner was born in Feldbach in the district of ...

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Primas Germaniae Primas Germaniae is a historical title of honor for the most important Roman Catholic bishop (the Primate) in the German lands. Throughout the history of the Holy Roman Empire, it was claimed by the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, Magdeburg and ...

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, leader_title3 = Apostolic Nuncio , leader_name3 =

Pedro López Quintana Pedro López Quintana (born 27 July 1953) is a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church who has worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1984. Since becoming an archbishop in 2003, he has been the head of the papal offices in India ...

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Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

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German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, headquarters = , origin_link = , founder = , founded_date = , founded_place = , separated_from = , parent = , merger = , absorbed = , separations = , merged_into = , defunct = , congregations_type = , congregations = , members = 4,828,066 (53.8 %) (2021) , ministers_type = , ministers = , missionaries = , churches = , hospitals = , nursing_homes = , aid = , primary_schools = , secondary_schools = , tax_status = , tertiary = , other_names = , publications = , website
Episcopal Conference of Austria
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The Catholic Church in Austria is part of the worldwide

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

in full communion with the

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. The Church's governing body in Austria is the Austrian Conference of Catholic Bishops, made up of the hierarchy of the two archbishops (

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

), the bishops and the abbot of territorial abbey of Wettingen-Mehrerau. Nevertheless, each bishop is independent in his own diocese, answerable only to the Pope. The current president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops is

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...

Christoph Schönborn. The Austrian church is the largest Christian Confession of

, with 4.83 million members (53.8 % of the total Austrian population) in 2021. For more than 50 years, however, the proportion of Catholics has decreased, primarily due to secularization and migration (from 89% in 1961 to 54% in 2021). The number of Sunday churchgoers in 2019 was around 6 percent (as percentage of the total Austrian population that is 532,937 churchgoers out of a total population of 8,901,064). Although Austria has no

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter includin ...

, the archbishop of Salzburg is titled ''Primus Germaniae'' (

Primate of Germany Primas Germaniae is a historical title of honor for the most important Roman Catholic bishop (the Primate) in the German lands. Throughout the history of the Holy Roman Empire, it was claimed by the Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, Magdeburg and ...

Organisation

Ecclesiastical structure

* Archdiocese of Vienna with the following

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandri ...

s: **

Diocese of Eisenstadt The Roman Catholic Diocese of Eisenstadt ( la, Dioecesis Sideropolitanus) is a diocese located in the city of Eisenstadt in the Ecclesiastical province of Vienna in Austria. The episcopal seat is in Eisenstadt Cathedral. History * May 18, 1922: ...

Diocese of Linz The Diocese of Linz ( la, Dioecesis Linciensis) is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Vienna, Austria. History Early history In the early Middle Ages the greater part of the territory of the present Diocese of Linz was subject to the bishops of ...

** Diocese of St. Pölten * Archdiocese of Salzburg with the following suffragans **

Diocese of Graz-Seckau The Roman Catholic Diocese of Graz-Seckau ( la, Dioecesis Seccoviensis, german: Diözese Graz-Seckau) is a diocese comprising the Austrian state of Styria. It is part of the ecclesiastical province of Salzburg. History The See of Seckau was ...

** Diocese of Gurk **

Diocese of Feldkirch The Diocese of Feldkirch ( la, Dioecesis Campitemplensis) is a diocese located in the city of Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, in the Ecclesiastical province of Salzburg in Austria. History * until the 19th century: part of the Swabian Dioceses of the ...

Diocese of Innsbruck The Roman Catholic Diocese of Innsbruck ( la, Dioecesis Oenipontanus) is a Latin Church suffragan diocese in the Ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan of Salzburg (in western Austria), covering the Bundesland (state) Tyrol. Its cathedra ...

Territorial Abbey of Wettingen-Mehrerau Wettingen-Mehrerau Abbey is a Cistercian territorial abbey and cathedral located at Mehrerau on the outskirts of Bregenz in Vorarlberg, Austria. Wettingen-Mehrerau Abbey is directly subordinate to the Holy See and thus forms no part of the C ...

(immediately subject to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

) *

Military Ordinariate of Austria The Military Ordinariate of Austria (german: Militärordinariat der Republik Österreich, la, Ordinariatus Militaris Austriae) is a Latin Church military ordinariate of the Catholic Church. Immediately exempt to the Holy See, it provides pa ...

(immediately subject to the Holy See)

List of Catholic organisations in Austria

Katholische Jungschar Katholische Jungschar is the official organization for children of the Catholic church in Austria and South Tyrol and one of the lay movements of the Catholic action. Katholische Jungschar is the biggest children organization in Austria. More 100 ...

* Katholische Jugend

Statistics

71% of Austrian Catholics support same-sex marriage and 26% oppose it.

Criticism

Call to Disobedience organization

The organization Call to Disobedience (''Aufruf zum Ungehorsam'' in

) is an

n movement mainly composed of dissident Catholic priests which started in 2006. The movement claims the support of the majority of Austrian Catholic priests and favors ordination of women, married and non-celibate priesthood, allowing Holy Communion to remarried

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving th ...

es and non-Catholics which disagrees with teachings of the Catholic

Magisterium The magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church is the church's authority or office to give authentic interpretation of the Word of God, "whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition." According to the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Chu ...

. The group also believes the way the Church is governed needs reform.The Catholic Tipping Point
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Notable people

* Mozart * Emerich Coreth * Leopold III, Margrave of Austria * Heinrich Maier, important resistance fighter against Nazi terror * Gregor Mendel * Zacharias Traber *

Franz Wasner Franz Mathias Wasner (December 28, 1905 – June 21, 1992) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest, the director and conductor of the Trapp Family Singers, and a missionary. In the quasi-fictionalized stage and screen musical ''The Sound of Music ...

References

External links

Catholic Church in Austria
{{Catholicism in Europe