page_title: Bavaria
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Bavaria / Culture / Religion
caption_attribution_description: Baroque Church of Saint-Coloman
context_page_description: Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a landlocked state of Germany, occupying its southeastern corner. With an area of 70,550.19 square kilometres Bavaria is the largest German state by land area comprising roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany. With 13 million inhabitants, it is Germany's second-most-populous state after North Rhine-Westphalia. Bavaria's main cities are Munich, Nuremberg, and Augsburg.
  The history of Bavaria includes its earliest settlement by Iron Age Celtic tribes, followed by the conquests of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC, when the territory was incorporated into the provinces of Raetia and Noricum. It became a stem duchy in the 6th century AD following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. It was later incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire, became an independent kingdom, joined the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871 while retaining its title of kingdom, and finally became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.
  Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the state's large Catholic plurality and conservative traditions.
context_section_description: Bavarian culture (Altbayern) has a long and predominant tradition of Catholic faith. Pope emeritus Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger) was born in Marktl am Inn in Upper Bavaria and was Cardinal-Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Otherwise, the culturally Franconian and Swabian regions of the modern State of Bavaria are historically more diverse in religiosity, with both Catholic and Protestant traditions. In 1925, 70.0% of the Bavarian population was Catholic, 28.8% was Protestant, 0.7% was Jewish, and 0.5% was placed in other religious categories.
  As of 2018 48.8% of Bavarians adhered to Catholicism (a decline from 70.4% in 1970). 17.9% of the population adheres to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, which has also declined since 1970. 3% was Orthodox, Muslims make up 4.0% of the population of Bavaria. 28.1% of Bavarians are irreligious or adhere to other religions.
caption: A Catholic church near Füssen with the Alps in the background
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