 Catholic Church in Austria | |
|---|---|
| Austrian German:Katholische Kirche in Österreich | |
.JPG) | |
| Type | National polity |
| Classification | Catholic |
| Orientation | Latin |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Governance | Episcopal Conference of Austria |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Chairman | Franz Lackner |
| Primas Germaniae | Franz Lackner |
| Apostolic Nuncio | Pedro López Quintana |
| Region | Austria |
| Language | German,Latin |
| Headquarters | Vienna, Austria |
| Members | 4,557,471 (49.6 %) (2024) |
| Official website | Episcopal Conference of Austria |
TheCatholic Church in Austria is part of the worldwideCatholic Church infull communion with thePope inRome. The Church's governing body in Austria is the Austrian Conference of Catholic Bishops, made up of the hierarchy of the two archbishops (Vienna andSalzburg), the bishops and the abbot ofterritorial abbey ofWettingen-Mehrerau. Nevertheless, each bishop is independent in his own diocese, answerable only to the Pope. The current president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops isCardinalChristoph Schönborn. The Austrian church is the largest Christian Confession ofAustria, with 4.56 million members (49.6 % of the total Austrian population) in 2024.[1]
For more than 50 years, however, the proportion of Catholics has decreased, primarily due to secularization and migration (from 89% in 1961 to under 50% in 2024). The number of Sunday churchgoers in 2023 was around 4.1 percent (as percentage of the total Austrian population that is 378,797 churchgoers out of a total population of 9,158,750).
Although Austria has noprimate, thearchbishop of Salzburg is titledPrimus Germaniae (Primate of Germany).
| Main Churches in Austria[2][1][3] | |||||||
| year | population | Catholics | % | Protestants | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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% | 388,709 | 5.0% | ||
| 2001 | 8,032,926 | 5,915,421 | 73.6% | 376,150 | 4.7% | ||
| 2011 | 8,408,121 | 5,403,722 | 64.3% | 319,752 | 3.8% | ||
| 2021 | 8,979,894 | 4,827,683 | 53.8% | 270,585 | 3.0% | ||
| 2022 | 9,104,772 | 4,733,085 | 52.0% | 263,627 | 2.9% | ||
| 2023 | 9,158,750 | 4,638,842 | 50.6% | 255,738 | 2.8% | ||
| 2024 | 9,197,213 | 4,557,471 | 49.6% | 248,113 | 2.7% | ||
71% of Austrian Catholics supportsame-sex marriage and 26% oppose it.[4]
The organization Call to Disobedience (Aufruf zum Ungehorsam inGerman) is anAustrian movement mainly composed ofdissident Catholic priests which started in 2006. The movement claims that it is "positively received" by the majority of Austrian Catholic priests[5] and favorsordination of women, married and non-celibate priesthood, allowingHoly Communion to remarrieddivorcees and non-Catholics which disagrees with teachings of the CatholicMagisterium. The group also believes the way the Church is governed needs reform.[5]
| Christianity in Austria |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Other religions | ||
| Related | ||
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