Roman Catholicism in Greece

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The Roman Catholic Church in Greece is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.

Greek Catholics number about 50,000 (0.5% of the population) and are a religious and not an ethnic minority. Greek Catholics and Orthodox share common forenames and family names, as well as traditions, especially on the islands. The contribution of Roman Catholics to Neohellenic literature over the last centuries is not negligible.

During the last decades, the presence of foreign Catholics, permanent residents of Greece, has continuously increased, and their number today perhaps exceeds the number of Greek Catholics. The majority are mainly women, spouses of Greeks, who have studied or worked abroad, or spouses of Greek seamen, etc. Aside from mixed marriages, tourism, as well as the free distribution of citizens of the European Union, are likewise causes of an increased presence of foreign Catholics.

Apart from the permanent residents, there are those who, with the passage of time, are completely assimilated by the local Catholic Church. Considerable, likewise, is the temporary presence of other Catholics, who come to Greece as economic or political refugees. (Their residence in Greece ranges from a few months to several years):

- Polish Catholics actually residing in Greece number about 40,000 - Catholic Filipinos in Greece number about 45,000 - Iraqis, about 4,000, mainly in Athens. - Albanians (unknown number), all over the country. - Ukrainian Catholics, as well as other faithful from Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. The total population of Catholics in Greece exceeds 200,000

The majority of Catholics are resident in Athens, a city of about four million people. A large number of Catholics live in the Cyclades, where Syros (8,000) and Tinos (3,000) have entirely Catholic villages and parishes. There are Catholics in Corfu (2,500), Patras, Thessaloniki (2,000), Giannitsa, Kavala, Volos, and the more distant islands like Rhodes, Kos, Crete, Naxos, Santorini, Samos, Chios, Kephalonia, Zakynthos, etc. There is a Catholic church in Nafplion, another in Aspra Spitia (near the Aluminum industry of Greece), which might be helpful to Catholic tourists visiting Greece on their way to Delphi.

In addition to the Catholics of the Latin Rite who represent the majority of the faithful, there are about 2,500 of the Byzantine Rite, and a few hundred Armenian Catholics.

There are eight dioceses including three archdioceses for the faithful of the Latin rite,together with an Apostolic Vicariate plus two separate jurisdictions for those of the Byzantine and Armenian rites respectively.

[edit] External links

• Homepage of the Catholic Church in Greece
• Statistics relating to the Catholic Church in Greece
• Homepage of the Catholic Church in Crete
• Homepage of the Catholic Church in Rhodes Greece