The Catholic Church in Japan is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome. As of 2021, there were approximately 431,100 Catholics in Japan, 6,200 of whom are clerics, religious and seminarians. Japan has 15 dioceses, including three metropolitan archdioceses, with 34 bishops, 1,235 priests, and 40 deacons spread out across 957 churches.
The Tabira Catholic Church, Hirado, Nagasaki
Japanese mosaic of Madonna and Child, in the Church of the Annunciation, Nazareth (a gift from Japanese Catholics to the church)
Gravestone (second from the left), in Malacca's St. Paul's Church, of Peter Martinez consecrated as the second bishop of Japan in Goa, 1595 and arrived in Nagasaki, 1596. He left in 1597 following the deaths of the 26 Martyrs of Japan. Died en route to Goa in February 1598.
St. Mary's Cathedral in Tokyo, which serves as the see of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tokyo
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan, also abbreviated as the CBCJ, is the Catholic episcopal conference of Japan, representing predominantly the members of the Latin Japanese Catholic Church. It was founded as the Nippon Tenshu Kokyo Kyodan. After the implementation and execution of the Religious Corporations Act, the body was renamed the CBCJ, becoming a religious corporation as classified under Japanese law.
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan
