This growth highlights the continued expansion of the Church in most parts of the world despite a notable decline in Europe.

Africa led the global increase, with its Catholic population rising by over 7.3 million to surpass 272.4 million, making up 19.7% of the continent's population. This marks a 0.32% rise from 2021, the largest growth in Catholic representation across all regions.

In the Americas, the Catholic population grew by over 5.9 million, reaching 666.2 million. Asia also saw an increase, albeit more modest, of about 889,000 Catholics, pushing the total to over 154.24 million. Oceania's Catholic population rose by 123,000, totalling nearly 11.11 million.

Catholics now represent 17.7% of the global population, an increase of 0.03% from 2021.

These gains contrast with Europe, where the Catholic population fell by nearly 474,000 in 2022, continuing a long-term trend of decline. Europe's Catholic population now stands at 285.6 million, making up 39.5% of the continent's total population, a drop of 0.08%.

Europe's decline in Catholics coincides with a decrease in the continent's overall population, which lost about 517,000 people in 2022.

Clergy numbers fall

The report also highlights changes within the Catholic clergy.

The number of Catholic priests worldwide dropped for the fifth consecutive year, with a net loss of 142 priests in 2022.

Europe saw the largest decline, losing 2,745 priests, while the Americas and Oceania also experienced smaller reductions. However, Africa and Asia bucked the trend, gaining 1,676 and 1,160 priests, respectively.

The number of women religious also fell globally, with a decline of 9,730 in 2022, largely driven by losses in Europe and the Americas.

Meanwhile, permanent deacons increased by 974 globally, with notable rises in Europe and the Americas.

According to Fides news agency, the number of major seminarians worldwide declined from 109,895 in 2021 to 108,481 in 2022. This continued a downward trend since a peak of 120,616 in 2011. The decline was most significant in the Americas and Europe, while Africa saw an increase of 726 seminarians.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

Agenzia Fides

Catholic Culture

CathNews New Zealand

As of 2016 about 1.3 billion of the world's 7.35 billion people identified as Catholics.

Despite the millions of new Catholics, the global catholic population fell by 0.05 percent due to the number of deaths and conversions to other faiths, the statistics showed. Read more

And not all bode well for the church's future as it faces major demographic and social shifts.

"Global Catholicism: Trends & Forecasts," released Monday (June 1) by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, looks at seven regions of the world.

It wraps the United States, Mexico and Canada in with Central and South America as simply the Americas.

The focus is on "the three most important indicators of ‘vitality' for the Catholic Church … the number of Catholics, the number of parishes, and the number of priests."

Among the key findings:

The global Catholic population has grown by 57 percent since 1980.

It's up from 7.83 million in 1980 to 1.2 billion. However, this growth varies steeply by region.

Europeans are rapidly shedding the continent's historic Catholic identity while the Global South, particularly Africa and Asia, booms with Catholics.

Europe saw only a 6 percent increase — from 271 million to more than 289 million. Meanwhile, the number of Catholics in Africa was up 238 percent, from 58.6 million in 1980 to 198 million in 2012.

But that growth is primarily due to a higher birth rate, "not to conversion or evangelization," observed the Rev. Thomas Reese, a social scientist and columnist for the National Catholic Reporter who has seen the report.

When that birth rate levels off with economic development, Reese wondered, then what? "Some like to say the Global South is the future of the church but I'm not convinced," said Reese.

More people than ever before are receiving the core sacraments of Catholicism including baptism, First Communion, confirmation, and marriage in the church.

But the growth in absolute numbers disguises more telling numbers. Continue reading

Sources

• Huffington Post
• Image: The Nation