:Catholic Church in Liechtenstein
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{{Expand German|Römisch-katholische Kirche in Liechtenstein|date=May 2012}}
File:St. Joseph's Parish Church in Triesenberg.jpg
The Catholic Church in Liechtenstein is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. The Catholic Church is the official state religion of Liechtenstein in accordance with its constitution.{{cite book|author=Jeroen Temperman|title=State-Religion Relationships and Human Rights Law: Towards a Right to Religiously Neutral Governance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Khag6tbsIn4C&pg=PA44|access-date=23 April 2025|date=30 May 2010|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-18148-9|pages=44–45}} Prior to 1997, the principality was part of the Swiss Diocese of Chur. In 1997, the Archdiocese of Vaduz was created, covering the whole of the principality. The first archbishop was Wolfgang Haas.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/big-trouble-in-little-liechtenstein|title=Big trouble in little Liechtenstein?|first=Luke|last=Coppen|website=Pillar Catholic|accessdate=23 April 2025}}
History
Historically, all of Liechtenstein was a part of the Swiss Catholic Diocese of Chur with Catholicism being the state church. In 1988, Pope John Paul II appointed Wolfgang Haas as coadjutor bishop of Chur. This was controversial as it was done without following the traditional practice in Chur of the 1948 Etsi salva decree whereby the Chur Cathedral priests chose the bishop from a list of three given by the Holy See. Protests were held at Haas' enthronement, which resulted in him having to enter the cathedral through the back door due to the number of protestors with the choir refusing to take part and no flowers being placed in the cathedral.{{cite news | access-date = 11 January 2023 | language =fr | publisher = Kath.de | url = https://www.cath.ch/newsf/il-y-a-30-ans-mgr-haas-devenait-eveque-de-coire-une-tragedie-en-cinq-actes/ | date = 17 June 2020 | title = Il y a 30 ans Mgr Haas devenait évêque de Coire: drame en cinq actes | first =Maurice | last = Page }} Due to continuing resentment, the Pope split Liechtenstein off from the Diocese of Chur with the new Diocese of Vaduz being raised to the status of archdiocese with Haas as Archbishop. The Parliament of Liechtenstein passed a motion declaring they wished to remain with Chur and this decision was made without their consent.
In 2011, consideration was made to disestablish the Catholic Church in Lichtenstein.{{Cite web|url=https://pres-outlook.org/2011/06/churches-fear-financial-ruin-in-liechtenstein/|title=Churches fear financial ruin in Liechtenstein|first=The Presbyterian|last=Outlook|date=30 June 2011|website=The Presbyterian Outlook|accessdate=23 April 2025}} In 2021, Archbishop Haas announced that the Archdiocese of Vaduz would not take part in Pope Francis' global synod, citing their size and created an independent synod.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/archbishops-resignation-signals-end|title=Archbishop's resignation signals end of era for Liechtenstein's Catholics|first=Luke|last=Coppen|website=Pillar Catholic|accessdate=23 April 2025}}
In 2020, 72% of the population were Catholic.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thearda.com/world-religion/national-profiles?u=133c|title=Liechtenstein|website=The Association of Religion Data Archives (the ARDA) |accessdate=23 April 2025}} In the same year there were 34 priests and 53 nuns serving 10 parishes.{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/liechtenstein |title=Liechtenstein |publisher=Catholics And Culture |accessdate=2023-08-08}}
See also
References
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External links
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- [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/li.html Statistics relating to the Catholic Church in Liechtenstein]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060625161621/http://www-pnp.physics.ox.ac.uk/~miyagawa/photo/travel/vaduz/cathedral1.jpg Photo of the cathedral in Vaduz]
{{Catholicism in Europe}}