Roman Catholic Church in Italy

Catholic Church in Italy
Italian: Chiesa cattolica in Italia
Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, the cathedra seat of the Pope as Primate of Italy.
Type	National polity
Classification	Catholic
Orientation	Latin
Polity	Episcopal
Governance	Episcopal Conference of Italy
Pope	Pope Francis
President	Angelo Bagnasco
Primate of Italy	Pope Francis
Apostolic Nuncio	Adriano Bernardini
Region	Italy and San Marino
Language	Italian, Latin
Headquarters	Archbasilica of St. John Lateran
Founder	Saint Peter, according to Catholic tradition
Origin	1st century Rome, Roman Empire
Members	57,000,000
Official website	Episcopal Conference of Italy

The Catholic Church in Italy is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome, under the Conference of Italian Bishops. The pope serves also as Primate of Italy. In addition to Italy, two other sovereign nations are included in Italian-based dioceses: San Marino and the Vatican City. There are 225 dioceses in the Catholic Church in Italy, see further in this article and in the article List of the Roman Catholic dioceses in Italy.

The pope resides in the Vatican City, enclaved in Rome. Having been a major center for Christian pilgrimage since the Roman Empire, Rome is commonly regarded as the "home" of the Catholic Church, since it is where Saint Peter settled, ministered, served as bishop, and died. His relics are located in Rome along with Saint Paul's, among many other saints of Early Christianity.

Owing to the Italian Renaissance, church art in Italy is extraordinary, including works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Fra Carnevale, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Sandro Botticelli, Tintoretto, Titian, Raphael, and Giotto, etc.