Religion in Austria
Catholicism is the largest religion in Austria, representing 57.9% of the total population in 2017. The Catholic Church's governing body in Austria is the Austrian Conference of Catholic Bishops, made up of the hierarchy of the two archbishops (Wien, Salzburg), the bishops and the abbot of territorial abbey of Wettingen-Mehrerau. Nevertheless, each bishop is independent in his own diocese, answerable only to the Pope. The current president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops is Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. Schönborn belongs to the Central European noble family of Schönborn. Although Austria has no primate, the archbishop of Salzburg is titled "Primus Germaniae" (Primate of Germany).
Religion in Austria
The Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences estimated in a study published in August 2017 the religious affiliation of Austria and Vienna as of 2016, and then they projected the situation to 2046, showing different immigration scenarios. In order to do this, the 2016 population has been reconstructed by applying projection techniques and using the information collected in the 2001 census as basis, and taking into account components of population change, namely migration, fertility, mortality, and religious mobility between 2001 and 2015. The results were the following:
Since the second half of the 20th century, the number of churchgoers and people identifying as Catholics and Protestants has dropped (cf. tables).