Main Denominations in Austria
year	population	Catholics	%	Lutherans	%
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 %	338,709	5.0%
2001	8,032,926	5,915,421	73.6 %	376,150	4.7%
2005	8,250,000	5,662,782	68.5 %	-	-
2008	8,350,000	5,579,493	66.8 %	328,346	3.9%
2009	8,376,761	5,530,000	66.0 %	325,314	3.9%

The Catholic Church of Austria, part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, is under the leadership of the Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

, the curia

Curia

A curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs...

 in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, and the Conference of Austrian Bishops. The Austrian church is the largest Christian denomination of Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, with, according to the 2001 census, 5.9 million people (approximately 73.6%). In 2001, the number of Sunday churchgoers was around 11.5 percent (as percentage of the total Austrian population that is 914,348 churchgoers out of a total population of 8,043,000). Since 2001, the number of Roman Catholics (and number of churchgoers) has fallen, primarily due to secularization. The latest figures (as per the end of 2008) available from the Austrian church itself, list 5.53 million members or 66 percent of the total Austrian population and a weekly church attendance of 698,527 or 8 percent of the total Austrian population. Meanwhile the Austrian Muslim population has increased to 4.2% of the population and surpassed the Austrian Lutherans (less than 4%), thus making Islam second (in religion) to Austrian Catholicism.

The Church's governing body in Austria is the Austrian Conference of Catholic Bishops, made up of the hierarchy of the two archbishops (Wien, Salzburg), the bishops and the abbot of territorial abbey of Wettingen-Mehrerau. Nevertheless each bishop is independent in his own diocese, answerable only to the Pope. The current president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops is Cardinal

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

 Christoph Schönborn. Schonborn belongs to the Central European noble family of Schonborn

Schönborn

- Places :* Schönborn, Brandenburg, in the Elbe-Elster district, Brandenburg* Bad Schönborn, in the district of Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg* Schönborn, Rhein-Hunsrück, in the Rhein-Hunsrück district, Rhineland-Palatinate...

.

Although Austria has no primate

Primate (religion)

Primate is a title or rank bestowed on some bishops in certain Christian churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority or ceremonial precedence ....

 the archbishop of Salzburg is titled Primus Germaniae (Primate of Germany).

Structure

• Archdiocese of Vienna with the following suffragans:
  • Diocese of Eisenstadt
  • Diocese of Linz
  • Diocese of St. Pölten

• Archdiocese of Salzburg with the following suffragans
  • Diocese of Graz-Seckau
  • Diocese of Gurk
  • Diocese of Feldkirch
  • Diocese of Innsbruck

• Territorial Abbey of Wettingen-Mehrerau (immediately subject to the Holy See
  Holy See
  The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
  
  )

• Military Ordinariate of Austria
  Military Ordinariate of Austria
  The Military Ordinariate of Austria is a military ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church.Immediately subject to the Holy See, it provides pastoral care to Roman Catholics serving in the Austrian Armed Forces and their families.-History:...
  
  (immediately subject to the Holy See)

External links

• Roman Catholic statistics for the year 2005