Catholic Churches in Nicaragua

The Catholic Church in Nicaragua is the Nicaraguan part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, and the Conference of Nicaraguan Bishops. Evangelization of Nicaragua began shortly after the Spanish conquest. In 1532, the first bishop took jurisdiction in the country. Jesuits were the leaders in mission work in the colonial period, which lasted till the 1820s. After Nicaragua became a republic in 1838, evangelization intensified, reaching the Atlantic coastline.