The Catholic Church is "the Catholic Communion of Churches, both Roman and Eastern, or Oriental, that are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome ." The church is also known by members as the People of God, the Body of Christ, the "Temple of the Holy Spirit", among other names. According to Vatican II's Gaudium et spes, the "church has but one sole purpose–that the kingdom of God may come and the salvation of the human race may be accomplished."
As of the year 2023, Christianity had approximately 2.4 billion adherents and is the largest religion by population. According to a PEW estimation in 2020, Christians made up to 2.38 billion of the worldwide population of about 8 billion people. It represents nearly one-third of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world, with the three largest groups of Christians being the Catholic Church, Protestantism, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. The largest Christian denomination is the Catholic Church, with 1.3 billion baptized members. The second largest Christian branch is either Protestantism, or the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The Catholic Church in the Netherlands is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Its primate is the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht, since 2008 Willem Jacobus Eijk. In 2015 Catholicism was the single largest religion of the Netherlands, forming some 23% of the Dutch people, based on in-depth interviewing, down from 40% in the 1960s.
The Catholic Church in Guinea is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope.
The Catholic Church in Indonesia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome. Catholicism is one of the six approved religions in Indonesia, the others being Islam, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. According to official figures, Catholics made up 3.12 percent of the population in 2018. The number of Catholics is, therefore, more than 8.3 million. Indonesia is primarily Muslim, but Catholicism is the dominant faith in certain areas of the country.
Christianity is the predominant religion in Mexico, with Catholicism being its largest denomination representing around 78% of the total population as of 2020. In recent decades the share of Catholics has been declining, due to the growth of other Christian denominations – especially various Protestant churches, Jehovah's Witness and Mormonism – which now constitute larger shares of the population. Conversion to non-Catholic denominations has been considerably lower than in Central America, and central Mexico remains one of the most Catholic areas in the world.
The Catholic Church in Guyana is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Bishops in Guyana are members of Antilles Episcopal Conference. Like most other nations that form the AEC, the Apostolic delegate to the bishops' conference is also the Apostolic nuncio to the country, currently American archbishop Thomas Edward Gullickson.
Catholics in Iraq follow several different rites, but in 2022, most (82%) are members of the Chaldean Catholic Church; about 17% belong to the Syriac Catholic Church, and the remainder are primarily Armenian, Greek and Latin-rite Catholics.
The Catholic Church in South Korea is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
The Archdiocese of Lusaka is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Zambia, where it is also considered its national primatial see.
Religion in Austria is predominantly Christianity, adhered to by 68.2% of the country's population according to the 2021 national survey conducted by Statistics Austria. Among Christians, 80.9% were Catholics, 7.2% were Orthodox Christians, 5.6% were Protestants, while the remaining 6.2% were other Christians, belonging to other denominations of the religion or not affiliated to any denomination. In the same census, 8.3% of the Austrians declared that their religion was Islam, 1.2% declared to believe in other non-Christian religions, and 22.4% declared they did not belong to any religion, denomination or religious community.
Religion in Switzerland is predominantly Christianity. According to the national survey of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, in 2022, Christians accounted for 58.2% of the resident population, of whom 32.1% were Catholics, 20.5% were Swiss Protestants, and 5.6% were followers of other Christian denominations. The proportion of Christians has declined significantly since 1980, when they constituted about 94% of the population; during the same timespan, unaffiliated Swiss residents have grown from about 4% to 31% of the population, and people professing non-Christian religions have grown from about 1% to 7.2% of the population. In 2020, according to church registers, 35.2% of the resident population were registered members of the country's Catholic Church, while 23.3% were registered members of the Protestant Church of Switzerland.
Christianity is the religion of 6% of the population of Djibouti. Christians are mostly of Ethiopian and European ancestry. Most Christians are Ethiopian Orthodox or Roman Catholic. The constitution of Djibouti includes freedom of religion, although Islam is the state religion. There is a tolerant attitude between religions in general. Proselytizing by any faith in public is not allowed.
Christianity is the dominant religion in Kenya, adhered to by an estimated 85.5% of the total population. Islam is the second largest religion in Kenya, practiced by 10.9 percent of Kenyans. Other faiths practiced in Kenya are Baháʼí, Buddhism, Hinduism and traditional religions.
Christians in Benin constitute approximately 48.5 of the country's population.
Religion in Cyprus is dominated by the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity, whose adherents make up 73% of the total population of the entire island. Most Greek Cypriots are members of the autocephalous Greek Orthodox 'Church of Cyprus'. Most Turkish Cypriots are officially Sunni Muslims. There are also Baháʼí, Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Armenian Apostolic, Sikh and non-religious communities in Cyprus.
Religion in Kosovo is separated from the state. The country's constitution establishes Kosovo as a secular state, that is, neutral in matters of religious beliefs, and where everyone is equal before the law and is guaranteed freedom of religion, belief, and conscience.
Haiti is a majority Christian country. Figures in 2020 suggest that 93% of the population belong to a Christian denomination.
Étienne-Benoît Larue was a French Catholic White Fathers missionary who was the first Vicar Apostolic of Bangueolo in what is now Zambia from 1913 until his death in 1935.
Catholicismportal