Catholic Church in Italy

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Paul
Origin1st century
Rome, Roman Empire
Members57,000,000
Official websiteEpiscopal Conference of Italy

The Italian Catholic Church, or Catholic Church in Italy, is part of the worldwide

Primate of Italy and Bishop of Rome. In addition to Italy, two other sovereign states are included in Italian dioceses: San Marino and the Vatican City. There are 225 dioceses in the Catholic Church in Italy, see further in this article and in the article List of Catholic dioceses in Italy
.

The

Saint Paul's, among many other saints of Early Christianity
.

Owing to the Italian Renaissance, church art in Italy is extraordinary, including works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Fra Carnevale, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Sandro Botticelli, Tintoretto, Titian, Raphael, and Giotto, etc.

Italian church architecture is equally spectacular and historically important to Western culture, notably St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Cathedral of St. Mark's in Venice, and Brunelleschi's Florence Cathedral, which includes the "Gates of Paradise" doors at the Baptistery by Lorenzo Ghiberti.

The status of the Catholic Church as the sole official religion in Italy ended in 1985, with the renegotiation of the Lateran Treaty.

History

St Peter's Basilica and Vatican City, in Rome

Christianity arrived on the Italian peninsula in the first century, probably by unknown travelers, traders or soldiers. The

1 Clement
) around AD 96.

Over its two thousand-year history, the Church of Italy grew in size and influence producing and harboring (sometimes before

John XXIII, bishop of Rome and initiator of Second Vatican Council, among many others. One could add to this list the founders of various contemporary lay ecclesial movements, notably Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion And Liberation, and Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement. Also, Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant'Egidio
, now one of the great faith based organizations in the world.

Today

In 2021 approximately 79.2% of the Italian population identifies as Catholic.

religious (those belonging to a male religious institute
)).

The bishops in Italy make up the

Matteo Maria Zuppi
.

Organization

Map of the 16 Italian ecclesiastical regions

The

Apostolic Nuncio to Italy is also the nuncio to San Marino; the incumbent is Italian Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello
, who has held the office since January 2007.

There are two Catholic

particular churches
in Italy:

The Latin Church in Italy is organized into:

Catholic lay organizations

See also

References

  1. ^ "Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles". newadvent.org. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  2. ^ "Special Eurobarometer 516". European Union: European Commission. September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021 – via European Data Portal (see Volume C: Country/socio-demographics: IT: Question D90.2.).

Further reading

  • Allum, Percy. “Uniformity Undone: Aspects of Catholic Culture in Postwar Italy,” in Zygmunt Guido Baranski, Robert Lumley, eds. Culture and Conflict in Postwar Italy: Essays on Mass and Popular Culture (1990) pp. 79–96.
  • Allum, Percy. "From Two into One' The Faces of the Italian Christian Democratic Party." Party Politics 3.1 (1997): 23–52.
  • Binchy, Daniel A. Church and State in Fascist Italy (Oxford UP 1941) 774pp
  • Ignazi, Piero, and Spencer Wellhofer. "Territory, religion, and vote: nationalization of politics and the Catholic party in Italy." Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 47.1 (2017): 21–43.
  • Latourette, Kenneth Scott. Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, IV: The Twentieth Century in Europe: The Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Churches. (1958) pp 153–58.
  • Pollard, John. Catholicism in Modern Italy: Religion, Society and Politics, 1861 to the Present (Routledge, 2008). a major scholarly history
  • Pollard, John. "Pius XI's Promotion of the Italian Model of Catholic Action in the World-Wide Church." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 63.4 (2012): 758–784.
  • Warner, Carolyn M. "Christian Democracy in Italy: An alternative path to religious party moderation." Party Politics 19.2 (2013): 256–276.