Roman Catholicism in Austria
| Main Churches in Austria [1] |
|||||||
| year | population | Catholics | % | Lutherans [2] | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | 6,933,905 | 6,170,084 | 89.0 % | 429,493 | 6.2% | ||
| 1961 | 7,073,807 | 6,295,075 | 89.0 % | 438,663 | 6.2% | ||
| 1971 | 7,491,526 | 6,548,316 | 87.4 % | 447,070 | 6,0% | ||
| 1981 | 7,555,338 | 6,372,645 | 84.3 % | 423,162 | 5,6% | ||
| 1991 | 7,795,786 | 6,081,454 | 78.0 % | 338,709 | 5.0% | ||
| 2001 | 8,032,926 | 5,915,421 | 73.6 % | 376,150 | 4.7% | ||
| 2005 | 8,250,000 | 5,662,782 | 68.5 % | - | - | ||
| 2008 | 8,350,000 | 5,579,493 | 66.8 % | 328,346 | 3.9% | ||
| 2009 | 8,376,761[3] | 5,530,000[4] | 66.0 % | 325,314[5] | 3.9% | ||
The Catholic Church of Austria, part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, is under the leadership of the Pope, the curia in Rome, and the Conference of Austrian Bishops. The Austrian church is the largest Christian Confession of Austria, with, according to the 2001 census, 5.9 million people (approximately 73.6%). In 2001, the number of Sunday churchgoers was around 11.5 percent (as percentage of the total Austrian population that is 914,348 churchgoers out of a total population of 8,043,000). Since 2001, the number of Roman Catholics (and number of churchgoers) has fallen, primarily due to secularization. The latest figures (as per the end of 2008) available from the Austrian church itself, list 5.53 million members or 66 percent of the total Austrian population and a weekly church attendance of 698,527 [6] or 8 percent of the total Austrian population. Meanwhile the Austrian Muslim population has increased to 4.2% of the population and surpassed the Austrian Lutherans (less than 4%), thus making Islam second (in religion) to Austrian Catholicism.[7]
The Church's governing body in Austria is the Austrian Conference of Catholic Bishops, made up of the hierarchy of the two archbishops (Wien, Salzburg), 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 Christoph Schönborn. Schonborn belongs to the Central European noble family of Schonborn.
Although Austria has no primate, the archbishop of Salzburg is titled Primus Germaniae (Primate of Germany).
[edit] Structure
- Archdiocese of Vienna with the following suffragans:
- Archdiocese of Salzburg with the following suffragans
- Territorial Abbey of Wettingen-Mehrerau (immediately subject to the Holy See)
- Military Ordinariate of Austria (immediately subject to the Holy See)
[edit] References
- ^ Statistik Austria: [1] ()
- ^ Statistical Data 2001 - 2008 in German
- ^ Austrian Population 4. Quarter 2009, retrieved 14 January 2010
- ^ [2] In german - 5.53 Millions Menschen sind katholisch retrieved 14 January 2010 provisional data
- ^ [3] Austrian Lutheran Church Website Statistics retrieved 11 February 2010
- ^ Kirchliche Statistik der Diözesen Österreichs (Katholiken, Pastoraldaten) für das Jahr 2008
- ^ c.i.a.gov/library/publication/the-world-factbook, 2008
[edit] External links
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