Roman Catholicism in Nicaragua

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The Roman Catholic Church in Nicaragua is the Nicaraguan part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.

There are 2,652,985 Catholics in Nicaragua - approximately 58,5% [1] of the total population according to the INEC [2]. The country is divided into seven dioceses including one archdiocese.

Evangelization of Nicaragua began shortly after the Spanish conquest. In 1532, the first bishop took jurisdiction in that country. Jesuits were the leaders in mission work in the colonial period, which last till the 1820s. After Nicaragua became a republic in 1838, evangelization intensified, reaching the Atlantic coastline.

In the second half of the 20th century, some Church leaders were supportive of Marxist-type revolutions, as elsewhere in South America, supporting liberation theology.

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