Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index This article should be merged with Catholicism. The Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church, is the world's largest single religious grouping with over 1,000,000,000 baptised members. Although a large percentage of these are not practising. The church exists within virtually every country on earth. The visible earthly head of the Church is the Pope, the successor to Saint Peter, whose seat is the Vatican City in Rome. He is supported by an elite group of Cardinals. The Pope officially appoints all clergymen in the Church above the rank of priest. All members of the hierarchy are answerable to the Pope and to his papal court, the Curia. Organisation Patriarchs are the heads of Catholic Churches other than the Latin Church. Some senior Roman Catholic archbishops are also called Patriarchs. Archbishops and Bishops administer individual dioceses as successors of the twelve apostles. As such they are responsible for the appointment and supervision of parish priests, and the oversight of all church affairs within their diocese. The Catholic Church is organised into local heirarchies within each nation, or group of smaller nations. National Conferences of bishops co-ordinate local policy within each nation. The World Heirarchy by Region North America Canada USA Mexico Central America Antilles Costa Rica Cuba Dominican Republic El Salvador Guatemala Haïti Honduras Nicaragua Panama Puerto Rico Europe Albania Armenia Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic Cyprus Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Gibraltar Great Britain Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Yugoslavia South America Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Falkland Islands Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela Africa Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Congo Congo (Dem. Rep.) Côte d'Ivoire Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Réunion Saint Helena Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Swaziland São Tomé Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Western Sahara Zambia Zimbabwe Asia Afghanistan Azerbaijan Bangladesh Brunei Cambodia China East Timor India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Korea (South) Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Pakistan Palestine Philippines Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Thailand Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Viêt Nam Yemen Oceania Australia New Zealand Pacific Islands Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.