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Catholic Church in Croatia | |
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Croatian: Katolička crkva u Hrvatskoj | |
Type | National polity |
Orientation | Latin and Greek Catholic |
Governance | Episcopal |
Pope | Pope Francis |
Apostolic Nuncio | Giorgio Lingua |
President | Dražen Kutleša |
Region | Croatia |
Language | Croatian, Latin |
Headquarters | Zagreb |
Founder | Pope John IV and Abbot Martin, according to tradition |
Origin | c. 65: in Roman Illyricum c. 640: Croatian Christianity |
Members | 3,057,586 (2021) |
Ministers | c. 3800[1] |
Official website | Croatian Bishops' Conference |
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Catholic Church in Croatia |
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The Catholic Church in Croatia (Croatian: Katolička crkva u Hrvatskoj) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church that is under the spiritual leadership of the Pope. The Latin Church in Croatia is administered by the Croatian Bishops' Conference centered in Zagreb, and it comprises five archdioceses, 13 dioceses and one military ordinariate. Dražen Kutleša is the Archbishop of Zagreb.
A 2011 census estimated that there were 3.7 million baptized Latin Catholics and about 20,000 baptized Eastern Catholics of the Greek Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia in Croatia, comprising 86.3% of the population. As of 2017[update], weekly church attendance was relatively high compared to other Catholic nations in Europe, at around 27%.[2] A 2021 Croatian census showed that 79% of the population is Catholic and 3.3% is Serbian Orthodox.[3]
The national sanctuary of Croatia is in Marija Bistrica, while the country's patron is Saint Joseph: the Croatian Parliament unanimously declared him to be the national patron in 1687.[4]
At its season on June 9th and 10th 1687 Croatian Parliament encouraged by the Bishop of Zagreb Martin Borković, unanimously declared St Joseph to be the patron of the Croatian Kingdom