The Catholic Church in Switzerland (german: Römisch-katholische Landeskirche, french: Église catholique en Suisse, it, Chiesa cattolica in Svizzera) is organised into six dioceses and two

territorial abbey A territorial abbey (or territorial abbacy) is a particular church of the Catholic Church comprising defined territory which is not part of a diocese but surrounds an abbey or monastery whose abbot or superior functions as ordinary for all Ca ...

s, comprising approximately 2.9 million Catholics, about 33.8% of the Swiss population. The six dioceses are: * Diocese of Basel whose ordinary is Bishop

Felix Gmür Felix Gmür (born 7 June 1966) is a Swiss Roman Catholic bishop. He is the bishop of Basel since his installation on 16 January 2011. He had previously served as secretary of the Swiss Bishops' Conference. Gmür was born in Lucerne in 1966. Fr ...

Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg The Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg ( la, Dioecesis Lausannensis, Genevensis et Friburgensis) is a Latin Catholic diocese in Switzerland, which is (as all sees in the Alpine country) exempt (i.e. immediately subject to the Holy See, not p ...

whose ordinary is Bishop Charles Morerod *

Diocese of Chur The Diocese of Chur is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Switzerland. It extends over the Swiss Cantons of Graubünden (Grisons), Schwyz, Glarus, Zurich, Nidwalden, Obwalden and Uri. The modern Cat ...

whose ordinary is Bishop

Joseph Maria Bonnemain Joseph Maria Bonnemain (born 26 July 1948) is a Swiss prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the bishop of Chur since 2021. Life Joseph Bonnemain was born on 26 July 1948 in Barcelona, the son of a Swiss father and a Spanish mother. He spea ...

Diocese of Lugano The Diocese of Lugano (Latin: ''Dioecesis Luganensis'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Switzerland covering the canton of Ticino. The diocese immediately exempt to the Holy See. In 2004, there we ...

whose ordinary is Bishop Valerio Lazzeri * Diocese of Saint Gallen whose ordinary is Bishop

Markus Büchel Markus Büchel (14 May 1959 – 9 July 2013) was a former head of government of Liechtenstein. Prime Minister of Liechtenstein Büchel was in office as Prime Minister of Liechtenstein from May to December 1993. He won the elections in 1993 as a ...

* Diocese of Sion whose ordinary is Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey The two

s, which do not belong to any bishopric, are *

St. Maurice's Abbey The Abbey of Saint Maurice, Agaunum (french: Abbaye de Saint-Maurice d'Agaune or ''Saint-Maurice-en-Valais'') is a Swiss monastery of canons regular in Saint-Maurice, Canton of Valais, which dates from the 6th century. It is situated against a c ...

in the Canton of Valais, which is the longest continuously inhabited monastery in Europe, whose

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...

is Joseph Roduit, *

Einsiedeln Abbey Einsiedeln Abbey (german: Kloster Einsiedeln) is a Benedictine Catholic monastery in the village of Einsiedeln in the canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. The abbey is dedicated to Our Lady of the Hermits, in recognition of Meinrad of Einsiedeln, a he ...

, in the

Canton of Schwyz The canton of Schwyz (german: Kanton Schwyz rm, Chantun Sviz; french: Canton de Schwytz; it, Canton Svitto) is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne to the west and Lake Zürich in the north, centred on ...

In contrast to most Catholic dioceses, Swiss bishoprics are exemption (church), exempt, i.e. immediately subject to the jurisdiction of the Holy See, without any Metropolitan bishop, Metropolitan see. The bishops and the two territorial abbots are organised within the Swiss Bishops Conference. In the last thirty years, mainly during the conflict over the appointment of Wolfgang Haas as Bishop of Chur, there have been discussions to make a major reform of the structure of the Catholic Church in Switzerland, which would probably also lead to the establishment of a metropolitan see (probably in Lucerne). However, discussions remain unresolved especially about the status of the Canton of Zürich as part of the Diocese of Chur, the large but splinted extend of the Diocese of Basel and the lack of a Metropolitan see stay unresolved. The status of Catholicism in Switzerland is complicated further by the existence of Landeskirche#Catholic cantonal churches, Landeskirchen (Catholic cantonal churches), imposed by anti-clerical cantonal governments in the 19th century and organised along democratic lines and control the application of funds collected through Church tax#Switzerland, church taxes. Most cantonally delineated Catholic church bodies are members in their umbrella Roman Catholic Central Conference of Switzerland (RKZ, official names in german: link=no, Römisch-Katholische Zentralkonferenz der Schweiz, french: link=no, Conférence centrale catholique romaine de Suisse, it, link=no, Conferenza centrale cattolica romana della Svizzera, rm, link=no, Conferenza centrala catolica romana da la Svizra). Currently, there is one living Cardinal from Switzerland, Kurt Koch; Gilberto Agustoni died in 2017 and Henri Schwery in 2021. Kurt Cardinal Koch participated in the 2013 Papal conclave.

Catholic lay organizations in Switzerland

*Jungwacht Blauring (JuBla)

Demographics

76% of Swiss Catholics support same-sex marriage and 23% oppose it.How Catholics around the world see same-sex marriage, homosexuality
''Pew Research Center''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catholic Church in Switzerland Catholic Church in Switzerland,

Catholic lay organizations in Switzerland

Demographics

See also

References