Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – This morning the Pontifical Yearbook was presented to the Holy Father Benedict XVI. From reading this book we may gain an update about the life of the Catholic Church around the world. The statistics given relate to 2009, providing a summary analysis of key trends relating to the Catholic Church in its 2,956 ecclesial municipalities globally. The faithful baptised in the world increased from 1.166 million in 2008 to 1.181 million in 2009 with an absolute increase of 15 million faithful, a percentage of 1.3%. The distribution of Catholics among continents differs considerably from that of the population. America, from 2008 to 2009, maintained a constant population incidence equal to 13.6% of that globally. On the other hand, in the last two years the number of Catholics reached 49.4% of the Catholic population globally. In Asia the increase rose from 10.6% to 10.7%, but this is significantly low for the continent which has 60.7% of the world's population. Europe has a weight per population of less than three percentage points than that of America, but its incidence in the Catholic world is about half that of American countries (24%). For the African and Oceanic countries, the percentage of the population to that globally is little different to that of Catholics (15.2% and 0.8%, respectively, for Africa and Oceania).
The number of Bishops in the world grew between 2008 to 2009, from 5,002 to 5,065, an increase of 1.3%. The most dynamic continent is Africa (1.8%), followed by Oceania (1.5%), while in Asia and America they are below the overall average (0.8% and 1.2% respectively). In Europe the increase is around 1.3%. The number of priests, both diocesan and religious, has increased over the past ten years (+ 1.34% worldwide), from 405,178 in 2000 to 410,593 in 2009. In particular, in 2009, the number of priests rose by 0.34% compared to 2008.
Permanent deacons increased by over 2.5%, from 37,203 in 2008 to 38,155 in 2009. The presence of the deacons in Oceania and Asia is improving at a rapid rate: in Oceania, where the deacons do not even count for 1%, they increased by more than 19% to 346 in 2009 and in Asia they showed an increase of 16%. But their numbers also grew in areas where their presence is quantitatively more relevant. In 2009 in America and Europe, where there is about 98% of the total deaconate population, numbers have risen over the last two years, from 2.3% to 2.6%.
A drop has occurred, however, among the professed religious. In 2008 there were 739,068 in the world, reducing in 2009 to 729,371. Thus, there is still a crisis, in spite of Africa and Asia, where numbers are rising.
The number of candidates to the priesthood worldwide rose by 0.82% from 117,024 in 2008 to 117,978 in 2009. Much of the increase may be attributed to Asia and Africa, with growth rates of 2.39% and 2.20%, respectively. Europe and America decreased, respectively, 1.64% and 0.17% over the same period. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 19/02/2011)
