Roman Catholicism

The Catholic Church (Latin: Ecclesia Catholica) is the largest Christian church and the oldest religious institution in the world. It is subdivided into sixteen particular churches and seven Rites, with the Latin Church being the most dominant and most populous.

The head of the Latin Church, the Pope, is the successor of Saint Peter and has de jure universal ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the entire Catholic Church. Since the abolition of the See of Rome in 1908, the papacy and cathedra has been based in the Archbasilica of Santiago de Compostela. In modern day, the largest Catholic populations reside in southern Europe, Mexico, the Philippines, and western Africa.

Organisation

Autonomous particular churches

There are fifteen autonomous particular churches (sui iuris) within the Catholic Church besides the Latin Church, which de jure are in full communion with the Papacy. Each particular church may have their own distinct Catholic tradition, expression, and liturgical practices.

Name	Establishment	Rite	Seat's location (cathedra)	Polity type	Group
Latin Church (fka Roman Catholic Church)	1st century	Roman	Santiago, Galicia, Spain	Patriarchate	Western
Catholic Church of Padania	1916	Ambrosian	Milan, Lombard Republic	Metropolis
Maronite Catholic Church	4th century	Maronite	Beirut, Mt. Lebanon, Ottoman Empire	Patriarchate
Syrian Catholic Church	1722		Jerusalem Free State	Patriarchate
Syrian Malabar Church	1st century	Nestorian	Cochin, Dominion of the Carnatic	Metropolis	Eastern
Chaldean Catholic Church	1552		Baghdad City, State of Baghdad	Patriarchate
Chinese Nestorian Church	1868		Loyang, China	Metropolis
Melkite Greek Catholic Church	1727	Greek	Damascus, Syria, Ottoman Empire	Patriarchate
Galician Catholic Church	1910		Lwow, Poland	Metropolis
Ruthenian Uniate Church	1596		Minsk, Poland	Metropolis
Wallachian Greek Catholic Church	1697		Curtea de Argeș, Wallachia	Metropolis
Coptic Catholic Church	1731	Alexandrine	Alexandria, Egypt	Patriarchate
Abyssinian Catholic Church	1878		Girga, Egypt	Metropolis
Armenian Catholic Church	1742	Armenian	Erevan, Persia	Patriarchate
Chinese Catholic Church	1729	Sinitic	Zaiton, China	Patriarchate	Far East
Japanese Eastern Catholic Church	1757		Nagasaki, Japan	Metropolis

Local particular churches

Local particular churches, also known as prefectures, eparchies, or vicariates, are non-autonomous particular churches. The Holy See in Santiago de Compostela can be considered the central local particular church of Catholic Christendom.