Religions like to "rank" things so it's clear who's on top and who's on the bottom. In terms of churches, same thing applies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basi

Religions like to "rank" things so it's clear who's on top and who's on the bottom. In terms of churches, same thing applies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilicas_in_the_Catholic_Church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilicas_in_the_Catholic_Chur... In short, the "major" is reserved for four top churches in Rome. "Minor" is used to signal that the church is of significant importance, but not as important as the major ones. It's not related to the size at all :)