Before going to discuss about Catholic community, it would be better to know
the meaning of the word ‘Catholic.' The word ‘Catholic' has a Greek origin. It means
regarding the ‘whole' or ‘universal.'
There are various catholic communities around the world as follows.
Catholic community in Brazil
Brazil has the maximum Catholic population in the world. There are 145 million Catholics in Brazil. Out of the whole population, 74%, people are Catholics. In Brazil, Catholic is a tradition rather than a religion. It is merely a custom that newborn babies are baptized, which happens according to the Catholic teaching. Then, the baptized babies become a part of the church.
Mexico
There are 89% of Roman Catholics out of the total population in Mexico. 47 % of them are regularly present at church services. Mexico is the second largest Catholic country after Brazil.
U.S.A.
USA is the fourth largest country with Catholic population. In USA, 68% people are baptized. United States was founded in 1776 but at that time, only a small part of population was Catholic. In early 1800s, there was a slow growth of Catholicism. On the other hand, in the mid of 1800s there was a rapid growth. At the beginning of 1900s, some of the Hispanic immigrants came and they increased the number of Catholic Churches in USA.
France
France is recognized as the eldest daughter of church. Pope Curia in Rome and Conference of French Bishop examine the church of France. Out of the total population, sixty percent of people are Catholic. Private and primary education system is based on Roman Catholicism. According to the report by CSA institute made in 2003 with a specimen of 18,000 people, it was found that 27% believe themselves as atheists and 65.3 are Catholic.
Spain
Spain is one of the predominant catholic countries in the world. It is one of the parts of Global Roman Catholic Church. According to the survey by Spanish Center of Sociological Research, almost 73% believe in Catholicism. 2% believe in other faiths. 22% people identify themselves as believing in no religion. Although, Catholicism is the leading religion, the younger people avoid Catholic teaching, morals as well as politics. They do not go mass regularly.
These different catholic community from various places around the world has different way of celebrating Christmas tradition & Christmas is one of the most important festival celebrated by catholic.
