The number of Catholics in the world rose between 2005 and 2014, the number of priests is up, while the number of religious continues to drop. Positive figures were recorded until 2011 then this trend came to a halt. The underlying trend shows a Church that is growing in Asia and Africa but shrinking in Europe and North America.
In 2014, there were 1,272 million Catholics in the world compared to 1,115 million in 2005 (a growth rate that is above that of the world population). In the same period of time the number of priests increased by about 9,300 globally (from 406,411 to 415,792). However, this last figure should be looked at more closely because the growth trend stopped as of 2011. The same trend applied to seminarians who increased in number between 2005 and 2011, before the upward trend stabilised and then regressed in recent years; there has been an overall continuing drop in female vocations (though not in Africa and Asia) while the number of permanent deacons has grown once again. These findings were published today in a long communiqué issued by the Holy See, on the figures of the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2014.
The general overview of the presence of Catholics in the world has been known for some time: a progressive slump in vocations and numbers of priests in Europe and North America, a mixed scenario in Latin America and Oceania and a substantial growth in Asia and Africa. So the Church is becoming increasingly less European and increasingly affected in global dynamics. Data is read mainly in relation to demographic trends, as such, Europe’s low birth rates and ageing population have contributed significantly to the decline in clergy numbers.
The number of priests overall was on the rise between 2005 and 2014, although a distinction needs to be made between the significant increase in diocesan priests and the marked decrease in religious priests. Europe’s losses stand out in particular but are largely compensated by the positive trends for diocesan priests in Africa and Asia. In this period, Africa witnessed a growth of 1,6 per cent.
Another important finding for the life of the Church, is that the number of Catholics per priest has seen a stark increase and this is highest in African and America, while in Europe it is much more modest. It is plausible that the situation may change in the coming years as Europe’s clergy is the oldest in terms of priests’ ages and is weakened by low renewal rates, while in Africa and Asia, candidates to the priesthood are significantly growing in number. This shows that the Church’s axis is gradually moving from the northern to the southern hemisphere.
Priests and deacons
The communiqué accompanying the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae says figures show how after a progressive increase up until 2011, there was a slow decline in priestly ordinations which is still continuing. Defections gradually shrunk while the number of deaths among priests have been growing in recent years after a period of annual fluctuation. Specifically, the number of diocesan priests seems to be growing when compared to religious priests and while the former are witnessing an upward trend in Africa, the Americas – excluding North America – Asia and Oceania, numbers are decreasing in other areas, especially Europe. Religious priests on the other hand are declining in number in the Americas as well as in Europe and Oceania.
The pastoral action of bishops and priests is complemented by that of other pastoral figures: permanent deacons, non-ordained male religious and female religious. In 2014 there were 44,566 permanent deacons, 54,559 non-ordained male religious and nearly 683,000 female religious. They are present in North America and Europe in particular, where 97,5% of the total are found, while their presence is limited (1,7 per cent) in Africa and Asia. The various groups evolved differently. Permanent deacons are the group that is evolving most strongly over the course of time: from around 33,000 in 2005 to almost 45,000 in 2014, with a relative variation of +33,5 per cent. Their presence tends to be strongest where the ration faithful to priest is low.
Female religious
The figures relating to female religious confirm a known trend. 38% of the total number of female religious (682,729 in 2014) are present in Europe, followed by America (177,000 female religious) and Asia (170,000). “There was a decrease in female religious of 10,2 per cent overall between 2005 and 2014. Women religious in Europe and America declined from 70,8 per cent to 63,5 per cent, while in Africa and Asia there was an increase from 27,8 to 35,3 per cent,” the communiqué reads.
Seminarians
Globally, “candidates for the priesthood, diocesan and religious, passed from 114,439 in 2005 to 116,939 in 2014, although in 2011 there were 120,616. The decrease in the last three years affected all continents with the exception of Africa, where there was an increase of 3,8 per cent in the number of seminarians. However,” the communiqué informs, “considering the entire nine-year period, clear territorial differences may be observed. Africa, Asia and Oceania demonstrate a lively evolutionary dynamic, with a growth rate of 21, 14 and 7.2 per cent respectively, while in Europe a decline of 17,5% may be seen and in America, especially due to a negative tendency in the southern region, there is a decrease of 7,9%.” The inevitable consequence of this is that the European and American continents play a lesser role in the potential for enhanced renewal of the body of priests (from 20,2 per cent to 16,2 per cent in Europe and from 32,2 per cent to 29,1 per cent in America against an Expansion in Africa and Asia, which together represented 53,9% of the total global number of priests in 2014.
In 2014 in Africa, there were 133 candidates to the priesthood per one million Catholics while in Asia the figure was 247. By contrast, European and American figures were much lower (66 and 55 respectively) and have been dropping since 2005, suggesting that pastoral services could be spread more thinly.
Finally, between 2005 and 2014, the number of bishops globally grew by 8,2% (from 4.841 to 5.237). There was a marked increase in Asia (+14,3 per cent) and Africa (+12,9 per cent), while in America (+6,9%), Europe (+5,4 per cent) and Oceania (+4 per cent) figures are below the world average. Despite these differences, the continental distribution of bishops has essentially remained stable in the period examined with the greatest concentration in America and Europe.
