Basilicas in the Catholic Church

Summary

Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense. Basilicas are either major basilicas, of which there are four, all in the Diocese of Rome, or minor basilicas, of which there were 1,924 worldwide as of 2023.