There are more than 900 churches in Rome, which makes it the city with the largest number of churches in the world.[1] Almost all of these are Catholic.
The first churches of Rome originated in places where Christians met. They were divided into three main categories:[2]
the houses of private Roman citizens (people who hosted the meetings of Christians – also known as oratoria, oracula)
the deaconries (places where charity distributions were given to the poor and placed under the control of a deacon; the greatest deaconries had many deacons, and one of them was elected[citation needed]archdeacon)
other houses holding a titulus (known as domus ecclesia)