page_title: Religion in Macau
section_title: Catholic Church
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Macau / Christianity / Catholic Church
caption_attribution_description: Español: Iglesia de San Domingo, MacaoEnglish: Church of Saint Dominic, Macau
context_page_description: Religion in Macau is represented predominantly by Chinese folk religions and Buddhism. During the period in which the city was under Portuguese rule the Catholic Church became one of the dominant faiths, but nowadays it has greatly declined.
  The Government Information Bureau reports that nearly 80% of the population practices Buddhism. According to the 1991 census, the latest to collect religious data, 16.8% of the people of Macau identified as Buddhists, 6.7% as Catholics, and 61% followed other religions or none of them. According to another survey released in 1999, 49% of the population followed folk worship, 11% were Buddhists, and only 3% Christians. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of the population went to temples occasionally. Another survey conducted between 2005, 2007 and 2009 has found that 30% of the population follows folk faiths, 10% are adherents of Buddhism or Taoism, 5% are Christians, and the remaining part do not declare religious adherence.
  The Pew Research Center has reported the following statistics for the year 2011: 58.9% folk religions, 17.3% Buddhism, 15.4% non religious, 7.2% Christianity, 0.2% Islam and 1% other beliefs.
context_section_description: Catholicism is a lasting legacy of the Portuguese colonial control of Macau.
  The Catholic Church in Macau is organized through the Diocese of Macau, which follows the Roman (or Latin) Rite. This Catholic diocese was established on 23 January 1576 by Pope Gregory XIII, and is currently limited in extent to the territory of the Special Administrative Region (MSAR) of the People's Republic of China. Since 2016, Bishop Stephen Lee Bun-sang has been at the head of this diocese.
  Macau became a diocese of the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, after the arrival of the Portuguese. At its foundation, the Diocese of Macau was given a wide jurisdiction over various ecclesiastical territories in the Far East, such as China, Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia (but not the Philippines). It became a major training and departure point for Catholic missionaries to different countries in Asia. To further strengthen this role, a college was founded in São Paulo in the sixteenth century, the first Western college in Asia for the training of missionaries. In the eighteenth century, the Seminary of St. Joseph was also established to train missionaries and priests.
  According to the Pontifical Yearbook 2004, there were about 18,000 practicing Catholics in Macau in that year (representing about 4% of the total population), 24 secular priests, 52 religious priests (members of religious orders), 62 brothers and 183 sisters in the territory.
  According to government statistics, Catholics in Macau, in 2005, numbered about 27,000 (about 5.6% of the total population) and most of them were members of the Chinese community, with some Portuguese, people of the Eurasian community with Portuguese descent and thousands of other foreigners, including many Filipinos. There has been a progressive decline in the use of the Portuguese language in the liturgy and increasingly, Mass and other sacraments are celebrated in other languages. For example, as of 2019, Mass is celebrated 30 times every Sunday in Macau: 16 times in Cantonese, 7 times in English, 4 times in Portuguese, 2 times in Mandarin and 1 time in Vietnamese. Recent government surveys have indicated that Catholicism is declining among Macau's population.
  Although the Catholic Church is not the predominant religion in Macau, it continues to influence and engage in areas such as social work and education. The Diocese of Macau has six parishes and 24 social institutions, made up of eight daycare centres, six nursing homes for the elderly, five rehabilitation centres for the mentally and physically disabled and five children's homes. In the field of education, in the 2004/2005 school year, the Catholic Church taught in 31 schools, to over 36,000 students and over the years, a large number of influential non-Christians have received a Christian education. In addition, there is a Portuguese Catholic university, an educational institution of higher education known as the Inter-University Institute of Macau.
  Among the important annual events are the Good Friday procession and the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima procession.
caption: St. Dominic's Church.
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