On October 5, Pope Francis announced the creation of 21 new cardinals. Among those selected for a red hat is Archbishop Dominique Mathieu, O.F.M. Conv. of Tehran.
By any account, the bishop of Iran’s capital city is a pick from the peripheries of the Church. Iran is far from a hub of Catholicism. In fact, it is one of the least Catholic countries in the world, with Catholics accounting for less than 1% of the population.
What is the Catholic Church like in Iran?
Here are 7 things to know:
There are actually three Catholic Churches present in Iran.
The largest is the Chaldean Catholic Church, which celebrates its liturgy in Aramaic.
The Armenian Catholic Church is also present in the country. Both the Armenian and Chaldean Catholic Churches are in full communion with the Holy See.
The Latin Church in Iran is extremely small. Most Latin Catholics in the country are foreigners.
According to Vatican statistics, there were only 5 priests in the entire country in 2020, and 9,000 baptized Catholics.
The U.S. State Department, though, estimated 21,000 Roman Catholics in Iran in 2022.
The exact numbers for the Catholic Church in Iran can be difficult to pin down. One reason is that instability in the country has led to significant migration, meaning that numbers may vary widely from one year to the next.
Additionally, conversions from the state religion of Islam to Christianity are illegal, and those who join the Catholic Church often do so quietly to avoid government attention and punishment.
Iran is consistently recognized as one of the worst countries in the world for Christians to live. Christians in Iran face serious persecution.
While Christians are officially recognized by the government as a religious minority and permitted to worship, their churches are closely monitored and their rights are heavily restricted. Distributing Bibles in the local language of Farsi is illegal, as is any kind of proselytization.
Human rights groups say the government has a history of arresting or executing religious minorities and protestors, charging them with offenses including blasphemy, “enmity against God,” ani-regime propaganda, or violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code.
In 2021, Iran failed to renew the visa of a 75-year-old religious sister who had spent decades in the country, caring for people with leprosy and educating orphans and refugees.
She and the 77-year-old sister who lived with her were the last remaining religious sisters in the region. Vatican News noted that they had been unable to carry out their ministries in the previous few years, to avoid running afoul of the country’s strict laws against proselytization.
The Archdiocese of Tehran–Isfahan (previously known as the Archdiocese of Isfahan) has spent more time vacant than it has been overseen by a bishop in the last century.
The see was vacant from the end of World War I in 1918 until the appointment of Archbishop Kevin Barden, O.P. in 1974. Barden was expelled from Iran during the Islamic revolution in 1980. After two years, it became clear that he had no chance of returning to the country, and he resigned.
The see was then vacant until his successor, Archbishop Ignazio Bedini, S.D.B., was appointed in 1989. After Bedini retired in 2014, the archdiocese was run by an apostolic administrator until Mathieu was made archbishop in 2021.
While the U.S. cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 1980, the Holy See has maintained full diplomatic relations with the country since 1954.
Observers have suggested the Vatican may be eager to use its influence to act as a mediator in conflicts with Iran, and to help protect Christians in nearby Lebanon.
Vatican representatives in Tehran have included the controversial Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, who oversaw the reform of the Roman Rite following Vatican Council II. After a reputed falling out with Paul VI, the pope named him apostolic pro-nuncio to Iran in 1976, a position Bugnini held until his death six years later.
Iranian Catholics might be the most cathedraled people in the world.
Despite the sparse number of Catholics in the country, there are six different cathedrals in Iran.
That impressive cathedral-to-believer ratio is due to the fact that there are three different Catholic sui iuris Churches present in the country. There are four Chaldean Catholic eparchies, as well as one Armenian Catholic eparchy and one Latin Catholic archdiocese, each with its own cathedral.
