According to the present invention, there is provided a honeycomb catalytic structure comprising: a honeycomb structure comprising porous partition walls having a large number of pores, disposed so as to form a plurality of cells extending between the two end faces of the honeycomb structure and plugging portions disposed at either one end of each cell, and a catalyst layer containing a catalyst, supported at least on the inner surfaces of the pores of the honeycomb structure, wherein the mass of the catalyst layer per unit volume (1 cm3) of the honeycomb structure (g/cm3) is 60% or less of the volume of pores per unit volume (1 cm3) of the honeycomb structure (cm3/cm3).