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Roman Catholicism in Norway is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, the Curia in Rome and the Scandinavian Bishops Conference. There were, as of May 2014, over 151,000 registered Catholics in Norway. But there are also lots of Catholics who are not registered with their personal identification number and who are not reported by the local church; the real number is probably about 230,000 Catholics, 70% of whom were born abroad. That constitutes about 5% of the population, making Norway the most Catholic country in Nordic Europe. However, in early 2015, the Bishop of Oslo was charged with fraud for reporting to the government as members possibly as many as 65,000 names of people who had not actually signed up. Since the government gives a subsidy to religious organizations according to the number of members, the diocese was also ordered to repay the government. ==Structure== The country is divided into three Church districts – the Diocese of Oslo and the prelatures of Trondheim and Tromsø, and these three consist of 35 parishes. At least two more are about to come, a fourth one in the city of Oslo (St. Martin) and one in Valdres (St. Thomas, by now a chapel district), both of them in the diocese of Oslo. At least one more parish has been planned in Bergen for several years, but the plans remain on hold. The Catholic Church is the second biggest religious community in Norway by number of registered members. Four religious orders have returned to Norway: the Cistercians, Dominicans, the Poor Clares, and the Trappistines. In 2007,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Welcome )〕 monks from the Abbey of Cîteaux dedicated a new monastery at Frol near Levanger in Nord-Trøndelag, naming it Munkeby Mariakloster. Trappistine nuns, likewise, bought land near the ruins of a pre-Reformation monastery on the island of Tautra in the Trondheimsfjord, moved to the site and built a new cloister, workplace, guesthouse and chapel, calling the new monastery Tautra Mariakloster. In addition to these four, 17 other orders are also working in the country, for instance the Sisters of St. Francis Xavier ( ''Franciskussøstre'' ), which is a unique order because it was founded in Norway in 1901. Also the Benedictines, who had a monastery on the island of Selja in the Medieval ages, have been asked to return to Norway. The bishops of Oslo, Trondheim and Tromsø participate in the Scandinavian Bishops Conference. There used to be several Catholic hospitals and schools around the country. There was also a Catholic orphanage in Oslo. But, between 1967 and 1989, the Socialist government in Norway bought most of the Catholic (and other private) hospitals by force and condemned the remainder. Almost all the schools were closed because of low enrollment except a few in Oslo, Arendal and Bergen. Nowadays, the Catholic welfare institutions in Norway are limited. There are no Catholic hospitals or orphanages remaining, but the number of Catholic schools is increasing. In addition to the three schools mentioned above, a new elementary school has opened in Bodø. There's a Catholic high school in Bergen, and an elementary school is planned for Drammen. The Sisters of Saint Elizabeth operated St. Elizabeth's home for elderly in Oslo, until it was completely destroyed by fire in December 2014. ''Fransiskushjelpen'' (The St. Francis Aid), a charity established in 1956 and run by Franciscans, remains active; Caritas Europa has an office in Oslo.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.caritas.no/?page_id=907 )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Roman Catholicism in Norway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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