The Catholic Church in Great Britain is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.

The Roman Catholic Church is the world's largest Christian Church, and its largest religious grouping. There are an estimated 5 million baptised Catholics in Great Britain (the majority of which would be Irish-born or of Irish ancestry).

Brief History of Roman Catholicism in Britain

Christianity arrived in Britain in the first or second centuries and survived in small scattered communities. The Pope sent St.Augustine in the 5th Century from Rome to evangelise the Angles. Scotland was being evangelised by the Celtic Church of St.Columba, who submitted to the authority of Augustine and Rome at the Council of Whitby in 644. England remained a Catholic country for a thousand years, but then separated itself from Rome in 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII, though it briefly rejoined Rome during the reign of Queen Mary I in 1555. The last Roman Catholic monarch of Great Britain was James II and VII, deposed by the Glorious Revolution.

The present hierarchy was established in 1850, and specifically avoided using places that were seats of Church of England dioceses as seats, which formerly belonged to the Catholic Church before King Henry VIII. There are now four dioceses based in the same town (Birmingham, Liverpool, Portsmouth, and Southwark) — this being a result of the Church of England establishing cathedrals in cities that already had Catholic cathedrals.

Hierarchy

The presiding bishop is the Archbishop of Westminster, currently His Eminence Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor.

Within Great Britain the hierarchy consists of:

See also

• Religion in the United Kingdom
• English Catholic parish histories

External links

• Catholic Church in England and Wales
• Bishops Conference of Scotland