Small States and How Church and State Meet

Monaco names the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion as the religion of the State in Article 9 of its constitution, and a 1887 papal bull of Leo XIII made its diocese answerable directly to the Holy See. Freedom of worship is still guaranteed to Muslim, Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish and other communities.

Liechtenstein's constitution names Roman Catholicism the state church, yet a 2012 law created a formal path for other faiths, including the Muslim community, to gain legal standing. About three in four residents are Catholic, and the Catholic Church keeps privileges no other community holds.

Andorra shares its head of state between the President of France and the Catholic Bishop of Urgell under agreements of 1278 and 1288, so a sitting prelate is joint sovereign of a modern parliamentary state. The 1993 constitution acknowledges a special relationship with the Catholic Church that no other faith in the country holds.

San Marino traces its founding by tradition to the stonemason Marinus in the year 301, and it was never formally proclaimed a confessional state. Its modern constitution guarantees freedom of worship while the Catholic Church holds a privileged public position, and recognized religious groups can receive income tax contributions that taxpayers earmark.

Luxembourg moves away from the Catholic privilege seen so far. Since 2015 recognized communities, among them Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Orthodox, Anglican and Muslim, negotiate a block grant from the government in place of paid clergy, in exchange for teaching an ethics or values curriculum in public schools.

About 72 percent of Montenegrins are Orthodox, but two Orthodox churches dispute legitimacy and property. A 2019 Law on Freedom of Religion set off large protests and led to a 2022 Basic Agreement with the Serbian church, while a 2012 Fundamental Agreement with the Holy See governs the Catholic Church.

Timor-Leste has no official state religion, yet over 97 percent of its people were Catholic in the 2022 census. A concordat with the Holy See signed in 2015 gives the Catholic Church privileges no other religious body holds, a church that stood among the few institutions Indonesia could not fully suppress between 1975 and 1999.

Lesotho has no state church, and about 90 percent of its people are Christian, chiefly in the Lesotho Evangelical, Catholic and Anglican churches that date to nineteenth-century missions. Ancestor veneration and traditional healers called lingaka continue alongside church membership, and the monarchy keeps ceremonial functions tied to Basotho custom.

Belize has no state church and a mixed population. Catholicism is the largest tradition at around two in five residents, with Pentecostal and other evangelical churches growing, while Garifuna ancestor ceremonies such as the dugu persist beside Christian affiliation and Mennonite farming communities add another strand.

Eswatini ends the path where religion and kingship are most closely joined. A Christian majority, including a large African independent and Zionist church sector, lives alongside reverence for royal ancestors, and the annual Incwala ceremony renews the bond between the king, the ancestors and the land.