Pope Francis names Washington priest as an auxiliary bishop of Seattle

Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 11, 2022. / Vatican Media.

Vatican City, May 12, 2022 / 05:35 am (CNA).
Pope Francis decried the low birth rate in Western countries on Thursday, describing it as an urgent socia… […]

Vatican City, Apr 6, 2017 / 11:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- According to Vatican statistics released Thursday, the Church in the Americas lags behind globally when it comes to the number of seminarians per number of Catholics.

In 2015, the Americas had 53.6 seminarians per one million Catholics, trailing just behind Europe with 65.0 seminarians per million Catholics. This is in comparison to Asia’s 245.7 and Africa’s 130.6 seminarians per million Catholics.

The Americas’ low seminarian rate occurs despite the continent’s hold on the highest percentage of baptized Catholics in the world – 49 percent.

These and other statistics, released by the Vatican April 6, are contained within the 2017 Pontifical Yearbook, and the 2015 “Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae.” These volumes, compiled by the Central Office of Church Statistics and edited by the Vatican Press, are being distributed in bookstores now.

In terms of clergy, although the number of bishops grew relative to the number of Catholics, globally, the number of priests declined in 2015, in contrast to an upward trend from 2010-2014.

According to the report, the decline is largely attributable to the geographical areas of Europe and North America.

The percentage of priests in the world did increase by 0.83 percent between 2015 and 2010. With priests, Africa and Asia show a sustained growth dynamic, while the Americas remained almost stationary in that period. Europe and Oceania recorded negative rates of growth.

If considered with regard to the relationship between the size of the geographic areas and the rest of the world it shows that the relative weight of Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America, all grew from 2010-2015, while Oceania and Middle East Asia remained stationary.

North America and Europe declined in the same period, which explains why the world-wide decline in priests in 2015 is largely attributable to these two areas.

Overall, Catholics grew globally from 1.272 billion in 2014 to 1.285 in 2015 – representing almost 18 percent of the population.

This “confirms the positive trend in the number of Catholics in the world, especially in the African continent, whose relative weight continues to increase over time,” the report states.

The significance of the Catholic Church in Africa continues to be confirmed as the number of baptized Catholics in the continent grew from 15.5 to 17.3 percent of all Catholics globally.

The growth in Catholics in the Americas and Asia is also important – up 6.7 percent in America and 9.1 percent in Asia – although these numbers fit with overall demographic development in the two continents, according to the report.

On the other hand, Europe’s contribution to the world’s Catholics made a sharp decline from 23.8 percent in 2010 to 22.8 in 2015.

In the period from 2010-2015, there was also a significant growth in the number of bishops, deacons, lay missionaries and catechists, although this is in contrast to a decline in professed religious brothers and sisters.

The priestly vocation crisis is particularly critical in America, the report noted, where the ratio between Catholics and priests exceeds 5,000 Catholics per priest. The ratio in Europe is weakened, with 1,595 Catholics per priest, though this is the most positive ratio in absolute terms.

In Asia the situation improved slightly, from 2,269 to 2,185 Catholics per priest, and Africa is stable with around 5,000 Catholics per priest.

After reaching a peak in 2011, the overall number of seminarians has undergone a gradual decline. Africa is the only continent not to experience this decline, making it the region with the greatest potential in the vocation crisis, the report explained.

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Members of the National Police prepare before going out to patrol the streets of Duran, city neighbouring Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Nov. 5, 2022. Special police forces continued on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022 to transfer imprisoned criminal gang leaders who have unleashed terror in Guayaquil as part of the government’s “open war” against drug trafficking. / Photo by RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Nov 7, 2022 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

Drug trafficking gangs in Ecuador have reacted to the government’s efforts to retake control of the prisons by launching a series of attacks — including the use of car bombs — that have left several dead, including five police officers.

In an effort to quell the violence, on Nov. 4 the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, extended to the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas the state of emergency that has been in effect in the provinces of Las Guayas and Esmeraldas since Nov. 1.

The state of emergency suspends for 45 days the rights to freedom of association and assembly, the inviolability of the home, and personal correspondence. The decrees of Nov. 1 and 4 also establish a curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

In a Nov. 5 statement, the Ecuadorian bishops called on the crime gangs to stop the violence and to take the path to conversion.

“The power, the money that you now have from so many dirty businesses, from so many mafia-style crimes, is blood money… Convert; there is still time to not end up in hell. This is what awaits you if they continue down this path,” they warned, citing the words of Pope Francis.

They also called on politicians and social actors to seek the welfare of the people and not partisan interests. “It depends largely on political and social action for the mafias to not fill their ranks with the poor,” the bishops said.

After expressing their solidarity with the families of the victims, the prelates said that “each one of us will have to render an account not only to history but to God himself for our actions.”

“It’s time for national unity, to rebuild the social compact that unites us and fight that common enemy which is organized crime … that seeks to destroy the most valuable treasure we have, our children and young people, and that finds fertile ground in a society in which, unfortunately, poverty and inequality seem to have no end,” the bishops said.

The Ecuadorian bishops announced Sunday, Nov. 6, as a day of prayer in all parishes, chapels, and oratories to ask God for peace and the end of violence in the country.

The bishops asked that the following prayer be offered that day:

“Almighty and merciful God, Lord of the universe and of human history. Everything you have created is good, and your compassion for man, who abandons you again and again, is inexhaustible.

“We come today to implore you to protect Ecuador and its inhabitants with peace, taking far away from it the destructive waves of violence, restoring friendship, and pouring into the hearts of your creatures the gift of trust and readiness to forgive.

“Giver of life, we also pray to you for all those who have died, victims of brutal criminal acts. Grant them recompense and eternal joy. May they intercede for Ecuador, shaken by anguish and misfortune.

“Jesus, Prince of Peace, we pray for those injured in attacks by crime gangs: children and young people, women and men, the elderly, innocent people and those who have been randomly attacked. Heal their bodies and hearts; may they feel strengthened by your consolation. Keep away hatred and the desire for revenge from them.

“Holy Spirit the Comforter, visit the families that mourn the loss of their relatives, innocent victims of violence and drug trafficking. Cover them with the mantle of your Divine Mercy. May they find in you the strength and courage to continue being brothers and sisters to others, bearing witness to your love with their lives.

“Move the hearts of the violent so that they recognize the evil of their actions and return to the path of peace and goodness, respect for life and the dignity of every human being.

“God, Eternal Father, compassionately listen to this prayer that rises toward you amid the din and desperation of Ecuador. Full of trust in your infinite mercy, trusting in the intercession of your Most Holy Mother, we turn to you with great hope, imploring the gift of peace and asking you to remove from us scourge of violence away. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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