Catholic Church in New Zealand


Catholic Church in New Zealand
Hāhi Katorika ki Aotearoa
ClassificationCatholic
OrientationLatin
PolityEpiscopal
PopePope Francis
ArchbishopPaul Martin
RegionNew Zealand
LanguageEnglish, Latin
HeadquartersViard House, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Wellington
Origin1842 (vicariate)[1]
Number of followers470,919 (2018)[2]
Official websitecatholic.org.nz

The Catholic Church in New Zealand (Māori: Te Hāhi Katorika ki Aotearoa) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope in Rome, assisted by the Roman Curia, and with the New Zealand bishops.[3]

Catholicism was introduced to New Zealand in 1838 by missionaries from France, who converted Māori. As settlers from the British Isles arrived in New Zealand, many of them Irish Catholics, the Catholic Church became a settler church rather than a mission to Māori.[4]

The church claims to have grown to be the largest Christian denomination in New Zealand, with a culturally diverse membership.[1] However, "Anglican" is the largest single Christian religious affiliation in New Zealand, according to the 2018 census, which recorded 314,913 adherents in New Zealand. "Roman Catholic" recorded 295,743. When all "catholic" religious affiliations are added together they total 473,145 people, representing about 10.02 percent of the total population.[2] But the word "catholic" in English can mean either "of the Catholic faith" or "relating to the historic doctrine and practice of the Western Church".[note 1][5]

In New Zealand there is one archdiocese (Wellington) and five suffragan dioceses (Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton and Palmerston North). The church is overseen by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference. Its primate is the Metropolitan Archbishop of Wellington, who has been Paul Martin since 2023.[6]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference History was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b 2018 Census totals by topic, Statistics New Zealand:: Tatauranga Aotearoa (1 Nov 2022)
  3. ^ "Home". New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  4. ^ Sweetman, Rory (17 July 2018). "Catholic Church". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  5. ^ "catholic". Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Archdiocese of Wellington – Archbishop". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington. Retrieved 25 January 2019.


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