Editing Basilica (section)

== Catholic basilicas ==
{{Main|Basilicas in the Catholic Church}}
[[File:Petersdom von Engelsburg gesehen.jpg|thumb|[[St Peter's Basilica]], [[Vatican City]], a [[major basilica]] of the Catholic Church, is a central-plan building, enlarged by a basilical nave]]

In the [[Catholic Church]], a basilica is a church with special privileges. It is typically housed in a large and important [[Church (building)|building]]. This designation may be made by the [[Pope]] or may date from time immemorial.<ref>1 CIC 1917, can. 1180 as quoted in ''Basilicas Historical and Canonical Development'', GABRIEL CHOW HOI-YAN, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 13 May 2003 (revised 24 June 2003). "It was not until 1917 that the Code of Canon Law officially recognized de jure churches that had the immemorial custom of using the title of basilica as having such a right to the title.81 We refer to such churches as immemorial."</ref><ref name="imm">The title of minor basilicas was first attributed to the church of [[Basilica di San Nicola a Tolentino|San Nicola di Tolentino]] in 1783. An older minor basilica is referred to as an "immemorial basilica".</ref> Basilica churches are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building does not need to 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 1,810 worldwide {{as of|2019|lc=y}}.<ref name="GCatholic20192">{{cite web|year=2019|title=Basilicas in the World|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/bas.htm|access-date=12 December 2019|website=GCatholic.org}}</ref> The [[Umbraculum]] is displayed in a basilica to the right side (i.e. the Epistle side) of the [[altar]] to indicate that the church has been awarded the rank of a basilica.
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