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 Official Catholic Church flag. Include the Anuradhapura cross. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1,261,194 (2012)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Province | |
 Western |  637,729 |
 North Western | 278,755 |
 Northern |  162,849 |
 Central | 62,476 |
 Eastern | 46,792 |
| Religions | |
| Catholicism | |
| Languages | |
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The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome. The country comes under the province of Colombo and is made up of 12 dioceses including one archdiocese. There are approximately 1.2 million Catholics in Sri Lanka representing around 6.1% of the total population (according to the 2012 census).[2] Later estimates suggest that there are over 1.6 million in 2020.[3][4]
In 1995, at a ceremony in Colombo, Pope St. John Paul II beatified Father Joseph Vaz (originally, José Vaz), an early Goan missionary to the country, who is known as the Apostle of Sri Lanka. On 17 September 2014, Pope Francis approved the vote to have him declared a saint.[5] Pope Francis canonized Father Joseph Vaz on Galle Face Green, in Colombo on 14 January 2015.[6]
- ^ "Population by religion and district, Census 1981, 2001, 2012" (PDF). Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
- ^ "Census of Population and Housing 2011". www.statistics.gov.lk. Archived from the original on 2019-01-07. Retrieved 2013-12-23.
- ^ World Religions Database at the ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-08
- ^ Catholics and Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-08
- ^ [1] Zenit News Agency Article
- ^ National Catholic Register website, article dated January 14, 2015