Roman Catholic Church in Luxembourg

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest church in Luxembourg , whose territory corresponds to that of the Archdiocese of Luxembourg .

As of December 31, 2014, the Archdiocese numbered 416,000 Catholics, 73% of the population. There were 140 diocesan priests and 55 religious priests , as well as 354 nuns and 66 friars .

history

The Roman Catholic Church in Luxembourg was always part of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany or Belgium until June 2, 1840 .

Only then did the church in Luxembourg begin to become independent , because on this date the 2,586 km² small Grand Duchy was detached from the Diocese of Liège and made an Apostolic Vicariate . But the first problems between state and church soon arose, which were sparked by Johann Theodor Laurent from Aachen . His appointment was kept secret at the express request of William II , King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg, which was met with great displeasure in the Luxembourg State Chancellery , especially since Laurent was considered an ultramontane . Laurent himself described his arrival as "as one wished it in Rome , like a bomb burst in this fortress". Without diplomatic skills, his situation worsened to the point that he had to leave his district in 1848.

In the following years the situation of the ecclesiastical hierarchy in Luxembourg normalized and stabilized . On September 27, 1870 the elevation to the diocese followed : temporarily as a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Mechelen ; since December 27, 1870, the Church has been in the country immediately .

In 1988 Luxembourg was made an archbishopric . Bishop Hengen had held the personal title of Archbishop since 1985 . The previous 274 parishes were merged into 33 new large parishes in 2017.

Apostolic nuncios in Luxembourg

• 1916–1918 Internuntius Achille Locatelli
• 1923–1946 Internuntius Clemente Micara
• 1946-1953 Fernando Cento
• 1953-1952 Efrem Forni
• 1962–1969 Internuntius Silvio Angelo Pio Oddi
• 1969-1983 Igino Eugenio Cardinale
• 1983-1989 Angelo Pedroni
• 1989-1999 Giovanni Moretti
• 1999-2002 Pier Luigi Celata
• 2003–2009 Karl Josef Rauber
• 2009-2016 Giacinto Berloco
• since 2016 Augustine Kasujja

See also

• List of Roman Catholic Dioceses

Web links

• Website of the Archdiocese of Luxembourg
• Image of the cathedral in Luxembourg
• Entry on Giga-Catholic (English)

Footnotes

1. ↑ Annuario Pontificio , 2016 edition, p. 425.
2. ^ Reorganization in the Archdiocese of Luxembourg: 33 new parishes at the beginning of the octave . In: Luxemburger Wort of February 16, 2017.