The Roman Catholic Church in Monaco is part of the worldwide

Roman 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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, under the spiritual leadership of the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. The country forms a single

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

: the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Monaco The Archdiocese of Monaco () is an exempt Latin ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Monaco. It is directly subject to the Holy See and not part of any ecclesiastical province. The archdiocese's mother church and ...

, which is part of the Roman Catholic Church in France since the beginning of its history. Per the

Constitution of Monaco The Constitution of Monaco, first adopted in 1911 after the Monégasque Revolution and heavily revised by Prince Rainier III on 17 December 1962, outlines three branches of government, including several administrative offices and a number of co ...

(Art. 9) Roman Catholicism is the official church of Monaco, and is the majority religion;

religious freedom Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...

is also guaranteed by the constitution. In 2023, the country was scored 4 out of 4 for religious freedom.

Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate The Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate (French language, French: ''Cathédrale de Notre-Dame-Immaculée''; Latin: ''Cathedralis Templum de Nostra Domina Immaculata''), formerly called the ''Cathedral of Saint Nicholas'' (demolished in 1874),. Now t ...

is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

of the Monaco archdiocese. Other Roman Catholic churches include the Saint Charles Church, Church St. Devote, Saint Martin Church, and Saint Nicholas Church. Roman Catholic chapels include the Chapel of Mercy, Chapel of the Sacred Heart, and the Carmelite Chapel. The former Chapel of Visitation is now an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...

. In 2020, there were 32,000 Roman Catholics in Monaco (83.16% of the population); Catholics and Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-08
/ref> there were 24 priests and 11 nuns serving across 6 parishes. Other estimates put the Roman Catholic population at 90%;US State Dept 2022 report
/ref> the remainder of the country is made up of Jews (3%), Protestants (2%) and Russian Orthodox (1%) with small numbers of Greek Orthodox, Muslims and others. Caritas Monaco is a Roman Catholic charity organisation supporting poor and vulnerable people in Monaco and raising funds for the victims of disasters and emergencies around the world.

References

External links

Archdiocese of Monaco official website
{{Catholicism in Europe

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...