On April 16 of this year, a statistical report of the life of the Church was published.
The 2015 Pontifical Directory which was prepared under the direction of Monsignor Vittorio Formenti along with the Church's Central Statistical Office, Professor Enrico Nenna and other collaborators, has finally seen the light of day.
In this context, the Church's Statistical Directory for 2013, which was also prepared by the Central Statistical Office, has also been completed.
The complex work of publishing both these volumes was entrusted to Father Sergio Pellini, SDB, General Director; Reverend Marek Kaczmarczyk, SDB; and Mister Domenico Nguyên Duc Nam, SDB from the Vatican Publishing House.
Reading the data which is reported, one can glean some insights into the life of the Catholic Church in the world from February 22, 2014 o February 14, 2015.
During this period, one (1) Episcopal See and two (2) Metropolitan Eparchies, three (3) new Episcopal Sees, three (3) Eparchies and 1 Archepiscopal Exarchate were created; one (1) Territorial Prelature was elevated to the status of a Diocese and one (1) Apostolic Prefecture was made an Apostolic Vicariate.
The statistical data in the Annuarium Statisticum, referring to 2013, provide a synthesis of the major trends concerning the Catholic Church in 2,989 ecclesiastical circumscriptions (Dioceses, Archdioceses, Eparchies, Archeparchies etc) across the planet.
During the period from 2005 to 2013, there was a rapid rise in the number of Catholics who were baptized - an increase of 12%. In the same time frame, the number of baptized Catholics has grown from 1,115 to 1,254 million: an absolute increase of 139 million baptized faithful. Since during this same time period, the world's population has increased from 6,6463 million to 7,094 million, the number of Catholics has increased worldwide from 17.3% to 17.7%. Although this number expresses the situation as a whole, the particular situations from one continent to another are widely varied.
For Europe, there is clear evidence of stagnation due essentially to the well-known demographic situation of the old continent whose population is actually in a phase of stabilization and is expected to sharply decline within the coming decades. In 2013, the number of baptized faithful, slightly increased from the preceding year, amounted to 287 million, a number which is 6.5 million more than the number reported in 2005.
More dynamic is the situation in Africa, where Catholics have grown by 34%: in 2005, there were 153 million and in 2013 this number had risen to 206 million. This trend is in part attributable purely to demographic factors, reflecting an effective increase of the presence of the baptized faithful: in fact, Catholics, who numbered 17.1% of the African population in 2005, eight years later accounted for 19%.
Intermediate results between those described above can be found in America and in Asia where the growth in the number of baptized faithful represented an important level (respectively +10.5 and +17.4%) but can also be accounted for as a result of demographics registered over the same period. In fact, in relative terms, American Catholics solidly represent 63% of the population while in Asia, the number of Catholics has grown from 2.9% in 2005 to 3.2% in 2013.
On a percentage basis, the number of baptized Catholics remains stable in Oceania, although absolute values are significantly lower.
The members of the apostolate, including Bishops, priests, permanent deacons, religious who are not priests, professed religious, members of lay secular institutes and catechists amounted to 4,762,458 in 2013 with a positive variation of a little less than 300,000 souls relative to the same time in 2005.
The breakdown of the various components which make up the above-mentioned members of the apostolate are significantly varied from one continent to another. On average, the percentage ratio between the number of Bishops, priests and permanent deacons and the sum of all other pastoral workers amounted in 2013 to 9.7%, with lower values in Africa (8.1%) and in South-east Asia (9.4%) compared with higher numbers in Europe (19%) and in North America (12.5%): the mission territories are characterized as a kind of accentuated lay apostolate.
As of December 31, 2013, there were a total of 5,173 Bishops present in all the various circumscriptions. This represents an augmentation in respect to the figures from the previous year of 40 which was a little less than the average over the eight years previous (+41.5). A comparison with figures from December 31, 2012 shows that in North America and in Oceania there was a decrease (respectively 6 and 5 bishops) as opposed to the remainder of the American continent where there has been an increase of 23, in Africa where there are 5 more, in Asia where the number has risen by 14 and in Europe where there are 9 more. However the changes that occurred between 2012 and 2013 are, in relative terms of minor import. This shows that the larger presence is in America and in Europe (where respectively, 37.4% and 31.4% of the Bishops on the planet are to be found), followed at quite a distance by Asia (15.1%), Africa (13.6%) and Oceania (2.5%). One aspect that is interesting to note is the slow but gradual replacement of missionary Bishops with local ones. Considering the percentage ratio between non-native bishops on a given continent versus the total number as an indication of this phenomenon, we find that in the period from 2005 to 2013 the value of this indicator diminished in Oceania, Africa and America, while it rose in Europe and in Asia just slightly.
The total number of priests - secular and religious - at the end of 2013 was 415,348. Compared to the year before, when the number of priests was 414,313, there was an increase of 0.3%. This increase was verified in all regions (except North America and Europe where the number of priests has fallen over the past year, respectively by 1.4 and by 1.2%): in fact, there were decreases of 1.6% in Central America, 1.0% in South America and 2.4% in South-east Asia while in Africa there was an increase of 4.2%.
An examination of the longer term clearly reveals the evolution of this phenomenon. Compared with 2005, the number of priests as a whole increased by 2.2%. The greatest positive variations were in Africa (+29.2%) and in Asia (+22.8%) while in Europe there was a decline of 7.1%. America experienced a more modest increase than the world average (+1.7%), but this value is the average between the +11.5% registered in the Centre-South of the continent and -10.4% corresponding to the variation in dioceses located in the North of the continent.
The distribution of priests by geographic area reveals a marked concentration. For example, 44.3% of priests in 2013 were present in Europe where we find a little less than 23% of all Catholics in the world, 29.6% of priests can be found in America which has 49% of the Catholics, 14.8% of all priests in Asia compared with 10.9% of Catholics, 10.1% of priests in Africa which is home to 16.4% of Catholics and finally 1.2% of priests in Oceania where we find barely 0.8% of all Catholics.
The number of permanent deacons, religious and diocesan is increasing both globally and on individual continents, increasing from a total number of 33,391 in 2005 to more than 43,000 in 2013, with a positive variation of 29%. Europe and America recorded both the most consistently significant number, and the most lively evolutionary trend. The number of European deacons, in fact, more or less 11,000 in 2005, was at the end of 2013 a little more than 14,000, with an increase of 30%. In America, the consistency of more than 21,000 deacons at the beginning of the period, rose to almost 28,000 in 2013. These two continents alone, represented in 2013, 97.6% of the deacons in the world, with the remaining proportions divided between Africa, Asia and Oceania.
The group of professed religious who are not priests grew by 1% between 2005 and 2013. In 2005, there were 54,708 in the world and by 2013, there were a few more than 55,000. The growing trend is common in Africa and in Asia where we find a variance of +6% and +30% respectively. In 2013, these two continents together represented a quota of 36% of the total (of the 31% in 2005). On the contrary, the group made up of Europe (with a variation of -10.9%), America (-2.8%) and Oceania (-2%), was reduced by more than 5% in the course of the same period.
The number of professed religious decreased between 2012 and 2013 by 1.3%, a value which equals the annual average between 2005 and 2013. Within this period the number changed from 760,529 in 2005 to 693,575 in 2013, with a variation of -8.8%. The decline, also in this case, was experienced on three continents (Europe, America and Oceania), with a negative relative variation (-18.3% in Europe, -15.5% in America and -17.1% in Oceania). In Africa and in Asia however, the increase was decidedly sustained at 18% for Africa and at 10% for Asia. The numbers compared across the world in 2005 and 2013 are practically the same in Oceania; in Europe and America though they are down from 42.5% to 38% for the first continent and from 28.3% to 26.2% for the second, while the number in Asia has risen from 20.2% to 23.8% and on the African continent it has risen from 7.7% to 10.1%.
Following a period of constant and sustained increase in the number of priestly vocations, which had its moment of greatest growth in 2011, we see in the latest verification that there has been a downward tendency. The combined number of those registered in courses of Philosophy and Theology in diocesan and religious houses of formation for priesthood across the entire Catholic world was 118,251 in 2013 compared with120,616 in 2011, therefore reflecting a change of -2% over the past two years. In general, there was a decrease in priestly vocations in 2013 (with the only exception being found in Africa where there was an increase of 1.5% in this number from 2011 to 2013), which was found in all continents to varying degrees. In North America and in particular in the United States, there was a quite pronounced decreasing trend with a reduction of 5.2% from 2011 to 2013. Central continental America demonstrated a contraction of 0.1% while South America registered during the same period a decrease of almost 7% which was particularly evident in Columbia (-10.1%), in Chile (-11.2%) and in Peru (-11.2%). Following the average trend in the same sub-continent, there was a decrease in Brazil of 6.7%.
Even in Asia, priestly vocations have suffered a decline over the past two years: in 2013 the number had fallen by 0.5% compared to the same number in 2011. The tendency was found mostly in Indonesia, in the Republic of Korea and in the Philippines, while there was an upward trend in India where the number of seminarians rose by 0.5%.
In the European continent, there was a decrease of 3.6% during the period. Contributing to this factor, there was a decrease in Poland (-10.0%), in Great Britain (-11.5%), in Germany (-7.7%), in the Czech Republic (-13.0%), in Austria (-10.9%), in France (-3.5%) and in Spain (-1.8%). However, there were increases in Italy (+0.3%), in Ukraine (+4.5%) and in Belgium (+7.5%). In Hungary and in Bosnia-Herzegovina, there was no change.
In Oceania between 2011 and 2013, the number of seminarians decreased by 5.1%.
The 2015 Pontifical Directory which was prepared under the direction of Monsignor Vittorio Formenti along with the Church's Central Statistical Office, Professor Enrico Nenna and other collaborators, has finally seen the light of day.
In this context, the Church's Statistical Directory for 2013, which was also prepared by the Central Statistical Office, has also been completed.
The complex work of publishing both these volumes was entrusted to Father Sergio Pellini, SDB, General Director; Reverend Marek Kaczmarczyk, SDB; and Mister Domenico Nguyên Duc Nam, SDB from the Vatican Publishing House.
Reading the data which is reported, one can glean some insights into the life of the Catholic Church in the world from February 22, 2014 o February 14, 2015.
During this period, one (1) Episcopal See and two (2) Metropolitan Eparchies, three (3) new Episcopal Sees, three (3) Eparchies and 1 Archepiscopal Exarchate were created; one (1) Territorial Prelature was elevated to the status of a Diocese and one (1) Apostolic Prefecture was made an Apostolic Vicariate.
The statistical data in the Annuarium Statisticum, referring to 2013, provide a synthesis of the major trends concerning the Catholic Church in 2,989 ecclesiastical circumscriptions (Dioceses, Archdioceses, Eparchies, Archeparchies etc) across the planet.
During the period from 2005 to 2013, there was a rapid rise in the number of Catholics who were baptized - an increase of 12%. In the same time frame, the number of baptized Catholics has grown from 1,115 to 1,254 million: an absolute increase of 139 million baptized faithful. Since during this same time period, the world's population has increased from 6,6463 million to 7,094 million, the number of Catholics has increased worldwide from 17.3% to 17.7%. Although this number expresses the situation as a whole, the particular situations from one continent to another are widely varied.
For Europe, there is clear evidence of stagnation due essentially to the well-known demographic situation of the old continent whose population is actually in a phase of stabilization and is expected to sharply decline within the coming decades. In 2013, the number of baptized faithful, slightly increased from the preceding year, amounted to 287 million, a number which is 6.5 million more than the number reported in 2005.
More dynamic is the situation in Africa, where Catholics have grown by 34%: in 2005, there were 153 million and in 2013 this number had risen to 206 million. This trend is in part attributable purely to demographic factors, reflecting an effective increase of the presence of the baptized faithful: in fact, Catholics, who numbered 17.1% of the African population in 2005, eight years later accounted for 19%.
Intermediate results between those described above can be found in America and in Asia where the growth in the number of baptized faithful represented an important level (respectively +10.5 and +17.4%) but can also be accounted for as a result of demographics registered over the same period. In fact, in relative terms, American Catholics solidly represent 63% of the population while in Asia, the number of Catholics has grown from 2.9% in 2005 to 3.2% in 2013.
On a percentage basis, the number of baptized Catholics remains stable in Oceania, although absolute values are significantly lower.
The members of the apostolate, including Bishops, priests, permanent deacons, religious who are not priests, professed religious, members of lay secular institutes and catechists amounted to 4,762,458 in 2013 with a positive variation of a little less than 300,000 souls relative to the same time in 2005.
The breakdown of the various components which make up the above-mentioned members of the apostolate are significantly varied from one continent to another. On average, the percentage ratio between the number of Bishops, priests and permanent deacons and the sum of all other pastoral workers amounted in 2013 to 9.7%, with lower values in Africa (8.1%) and in South-east Asia (9.4%) compared with higher numbers in Europe (19%) and in North America (12.5%): the mission territories are characterized as a kind of accentuated lay apostolate.
As of December 31, 2013, there were a total of 5,173 Bishops present in all the various circumscriptions. This represents an augmentation in respect to the figures from the previous year of 40 which was a little less than the average over the eight years previous (+41.5). A comparison with figures from December 31, 2012 shows that in North America and in Oceania there was a decrease (respectively 6 and 5 bishops) as opposed to the remainder of the American continent where there has been an increase of 23, in Africa where there are 5 more, in Asia where the number has risen by 14 and in Europe where there are 9 more. However the changes that occurred between 2012 and 2013 are, in relative terms of minor import. This shows that the larger presence is in America and in Europe (where respectively, 37.4% and 31.4% of the Bishops on the planet are to be found), followed at quite a distance by Asia (15.1%), Africa (13.6%) and Oceania (2.5%). One aspect that is interesting to note is the slow but gradual replacement of missionary Bishops with local ones. Considering the percentage ratio between non-native bishops on a given continent versus the total number as an indication of this phenomenon, we find that in the period from 2005 to 2013 the value of this indicator diminished in Oceania, Africa and America, while it rose in Europe and in Asia just slightly.
The total number of priests - secular and religious - at the end of 2013 was 415,348. Compared to the year before, when the number of priests was 414,313, there was an increase of 0.3%. This increase was verified in all regions (except North America and Europe where the number of priests has fallen over the past year, respectively by 1.4 and by 1.2%): in fact, there were decreases of 1.6% in Central America, 1.0% in South America and 2.4% in South-east Asia while in Africa there was an increase of 4.2%.
An examination of the longer term clearly reveals the evolution of this phenomenon. Compared with 2005, the number of priests as a whole increased by 2.2%. The greatest positive variations were in Africa (+29.2%) and in Asia (+22.8%) while in Europe there was a decline of 7.1%. America experienced a more modest increase than the world average (+1.7%), but this value is the average between the +11.5% registered in the Centre-South of the continent and -10.4% corresponding to the variation in dioceses located in the North of the continent.
The distribution of priests by geographic area reveals a marked concentration. For example, 44.3% of priests in 2013 were present in Europe where we find a little less than 23% of all Catholics in the world, 29.6% of priests can be found in America which has 49% of the Catholics, 14.8% of all priests in Asia compared with 10.9% of Catholics, 10.1% of priests in Africa which is home to 16.4% of Catholics and finally 1.2% of priests in Oceania where we find barely 0.8% of all Catholics.
The number of permanent deacons, religious and diocesan is increasing both globally and on individual continents, increasing from a total number of 33,391 in 2005 to more than 43,000 in 2013, with a positive variation of 29%. Europe and America recorded both the most consistently significant number, and the most lively evolutionary trend. The number of European deacons, in fact, more or less 11,000 in 2005, was at the end of 2013 a little more than 14,000, with an increase of 30%. In America, the consistency of more than 21,000 deacons at the beginning of the period, rose to almost 28,000 in 2013. These two continents alone, represented in 2013, 97.6% of the deacons in the world, with the remaining proportions divided between Africa, Asia and Oceania.
The group of professed religious who are not priests grew by 1% between 2005 and 2013. In 2005, there were 54,708 in the world and by 2013, there were a few more than 55,000. The growing trend is common in Africa and in Asia where we find a variance of +6% and +30% respectively. In 2013, these two continents together represented a quota of 36% of the total (of the 31% in 2005). On the contrary, the group made up of Europe (with a variation of -10.9%), America (-2.8%) and Oceania (-2%), was reduced by more than 5% in the course of the same period.
The number of professed religious decreased between 2012 and 2013 by 1.3%, a value which equals the annual average between 2005 and 2013. Within this period the number changed from 760,529 in 2005 to 693,575 in 2013, with a variation of -8.8%. The decline, also in this case, was experienced on three continents (Europe, America and Oceania), with a negative relative variation (-18.3% in Europe, -15.5% in America and -17.1% in Oceania). In Africa and in Asia however, the increase was decidedly sustained at 18% for Africa and at 10% for Asia. The numbers compared across the world in 2005 and 2013 are practically the same in Oceania; in Europe and America though they are down from 42.5% to 38% for the first continent and from 28.3% to 26.2% for the second, while the number in Asia has risen from 20.2% to 23.8% and on the African continent it has risen from 7.7% to 10.1%.
Following a period of constant and sustained increase in the number of priestly vocations, which had its moment of greatest growth in 2011, we see in the latest verification that there has been a downward tendency. The combined number of those registered in courses of Philosophy and Theology in diocesan and religious houses of formation for priesthood across the entire Catholic world was 118,251 in 2013 compared with120,616 in 2011, therefore reflecting a change of -2% over the past two years. In general, there was a decrease in priestly vocations in 2013 (with the only exception being found in Africa where there was an increase of 1.5% in this number from 2011 to 2013), which was found in all continents to varying degrees. In North America and in particular in the United States, there was a quite pronounced decreasing trend with a reduction of 5.2% from 2011 to 2013. Central continental America demonstrated a contraction of 0.1% while South America registered during the same period a decrease of almost 7% which was particularly evident in Columbia (-10.1%), in Chile (-11.2%) and in Peru (-11.2%). Following the average trend in the same sub-continent, there was a decrease in Brazil of 6.7%.
Even in Asia, priestly vocations have suffered a decline over the past two years: in 2013 the number had fallen by 0.5% compared to the same number in 2011. The tendency was found mostly in Indonesia, in the Republic of Korea and in the Philippines, while there was an upward trend in India where the number of seminarians rose by 0.5%.
In the European continent, there was a decrease of 3.6% during the period. Contributing to this factor, there was a decrease in Poland (-10.0%), in Great Britain (-11.5%), in Germany (-7.7%), in the Czech Republic (-13.0%), in Austria (-10.9%), in France (-3.5%) and in Spain (-1.8%). However, there were increases in Italy (+0.3%), in Ukraine (+4.5%) and in Belgium (+7.5%). In Hungary and in Bosnia-Herzegovina, there was no change.
In Oceania between 2011 and 2013, the number of seminarians decreased by 5.1%.
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