Roman Catholicism in Argentina

The Catholic Church in Argentina is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, the Curia in Rome, and the Argentine Episcopal Conference.

According to the CIA World Factbook (July 2014), 92% of the country are nominally Roman Catholic, but less than 20% practice their faith regularly.

Today, the church in Argentina is divided into administrative territorial units called dioceses and archdioceses. Buenos Aires, for example, is a metropolitan archdiocese owing to its size and historical significance as the capital of the nation. An Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, SJ, was elected Pope on 13 March 2013. Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, the seat of the archbishop, also houses the remains of General José de San Martín in a mausoleum.

There are seven Catholic universities in Argentina: Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (Buenos Aires), the Universidad Católica de Córdoba, the Universidad de La Plata, the Universidad de Salta, the Universidad de Santa Fe, the Universidad de Cuyo, and the Catholic University of Santiago del Estero. Religious orders run and sponsor hundreds of primary and secondary schools throughout the country, with government funding.