CNA Staff, Apr 8, 2024 / 14:45 pm (CNA).
The number of Catholics worldwide increased by 14 million in 2022, according to the Vatican’s 2022 Statistical Yearbook of the Church released earlier this month and highlighted in a report by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.
The figures from 2021 to 2022 — the most recent years where numbers are available — marked a decrease in the number of priests and seminarians.
While vocations to the priesthood and religious life have decreased overall, the Church shows signs of growth in some parts of the world — most notably Africa and Asia.
More Catholics
The number of baptized Catholics has increased by about 1% — 14 million — rising from 1.376 billion in 2021 to 1.390 billion in 2022.
As in previous years, the Catholic Church in Africa continues to grow. Africa had the highest increase in Catholics at 3%, while the Americas recorded a 0.9% increase and Asia a 0.6% increase.
The number of Catholics in Europe remained steady at about 286 million from 2021 to 2022.
The Church has fewer priests and seminarians
The number of priests continued the downward trend that began in 2012.
Globally, the number of priests decreased by 142 from 2021 to 2022, going from 407,872 to 407,730.
But the number of priests continues to grow in Africa and Asia, while vocations in other continents plateau or decline.
The number of priests in Africa and Asia increased by 3.2% and 1.6%, respectively, while the number remained steady in the Americas. Oceania saw a 1.5% decrease in priests, while Europe had a 1.7% decrease.
There are also fewer seminarians worldwide. According to the Vatican numbers, there were 1.3% fewer men preparing for priesthood in 2022 than in 2021.
This decrease is most marked in Europe, where there has been a noted vocations crisis since 2008. The number of seminarians decreased by 6% from 2021 to 2022. The number of seminarians also decreased in the Americas by 3.2% and in Asia by 1.2%.
But Africa saw a 2.1% increase in the number of seminarians, while Oceania had a notable 1.3% increase.
Africa had the highest number of seminarians in 2022, at almost 35,000 men, while Oceania (which makes up only 0.6% of the world’s population) had the least, at almost 1,000.
Asia and the Americas had roughly 30,000 and 27,000 seminarians, respectively, while Europe, which makes up almost 10% of the world’s population, had only 14,461 seminarians.
But not all is lost for parochial Church leadership. The numbers show a marked increase in permanent deacons, increasing by 2% from 2021 to 2022.
While the global Catholic Church saw 142 fewer priests from 2021-2022, there are 974 more permanent deacons worldwide.
The number of bishops from 2021 to 2022 increased by a quarter, from 5,340 to 5,353 bishops, with most of the growth centered in Africa and Asia.
In the Americas, the number of bishops remained steady at about 2,000, while in Europe the number of bishops declined slightly at less than 1%.
Vocations are on the decline for both men and women
The number of professed religious men — not including priests — decreased by 360, from 49,774 in 2021 to 49,414 in 2022.
Asia and the Americas were the only regions where religious vocations for men increased, with the most substantial increase in Asia.
While there are more religious women than priests by almost 50%, the number of religious women is also declining. According to the most recent data from 2021 to 2022, their numbers have declined by 1.6% — meaning almost 10,000 fewer religious sisters worldwide.
This decline is most prevalent in Oceania, Europe, and North America, where the number of women religious decreased by 3.6%, 3.5%, and 3% respectively. South and Central America also saw a slight decrease of more than 2,000 religious women.
But Africa had the largest increase in religious women at 1.7%, increasing by more than 1,000 vocations. Southeast Asia’s numbers also reflected a small increase of 0.1% — almost 200 more religious women.
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Yes, Church numbers are up, as is population as a whole, but I think we will see the Catholic population crash, just as the general population is expected to crash in one hundred years or so.
Even so, I can’t help but think the raw numbers of Catholics are much better than the number of Mass-going, believing Catholics. I know a large family of Catholics (my own, actually) and only two out of more than twenty go to Mass anymore. I do not believe this is at all unusual.
How about allowing Bishops to ordain, on a case by case basis, Permanent Deacons? Don’t abolish celibacy, but supplement the ranks of Parish Priests with a select group of Permanent Deacons.
Permanent deacons do nothing to solve the problem of one priest driving to 3 or 4 parishes every Sunday to say Mass.
If you compare the ratio of priests to parishes in 1960 to the ratio now, the numbers have tanked.
If you compare the ratio of priests to Catholics in their parish territory in 1960 to the ratio now, the numbers have tanked.
If you compare the ratio of priests to Catholics who attend Mass ever Sunday in 1960 to the ratio now, the numbers are *nearly the same*.
Our missing vocations problems is caused by our missing laity, and can be solved by the laity coming back to church and the Sacramental life, praying regularly, fasting, giving alms, and studying the Faith handed down from the Apostles. There are some hopeful movements in this direction, but they will peter out if we don’t get back to the basics.
If Permanent Deacons are ordained, they can say Mass.
No. A deacon can lead a Communion Service. He cannot say Mass. Only an ordained priest can consecrate the bread and wine.
What we need are truly spiritual priests who strive to live in union with God and who can lead their flocks to that union.
Unfortunately, the spiritually inclined can see that working for most branch office manager bishops would be an exercise in wasting a life on superficial management, social work and diplomacy, along with fund raising, and being an officially licensed sacrament dispensing station… and most parishoners would loath working for a bishop’s office as they see how ineffective they are at policing own ranks and their subordinates, while publishing endless streams of upbeat blather and initiatives, while primarily seeking to preserve only the status quo.
The lack of vocations is due strictly to corruption of the organizational aspect of the institution. Nobody wants to work for these cats.
The true believers are out there, but they want nothing to do with folk running the show.
Francis X. Maier interviewed 30 US bishop for his outstanding book “True Confessions”. One of his findings: “When pressed, none of the bishops I queried could report a single diocesan seminarian inspired to pursue priestly life by the current pope. None took any pleasure in acknowledging this,” he said.
Here is the link to the full article, but I recommend reading the book: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2021/02/24/in-confidential-interviews-catholic-bishops-talk-covid-joe-biden-pope-francis/