The Catholic Church grows throughout the world and enjoys special good health in America and Africa, but sees how in Europe it is mired in a decreasing spiral for years, according to a study of the Center for Studies, Training and Social Analysis of the San Pablo CEU Foundation (CEU-CEFAS).
The report Demography of the Catholic Church at the gates of his third millennium It describes an institution formed by almost 1.4 billion Catholics, more than half of the 2.6 billion Christians in the world.
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The largest number of Catholics is in America with 666 million faithful, representing 48% of the total. It is followed by Europe with 285 million (21%), and very closely Africa, where 272 million Catholics live, a fifth of the total.
In recent years, while the increase is remarkable in America and, above all, in Africa, in Europe the decrease is remarkable, to the point that “Catholics decreased in relative terms, even more than the whole population.”
The European case is paradoxical in some of its manifestations because, although it has many more diocesan and religious priests than in any other continent, its number tends to diminish while its Middle Ages rises every year.
In the case of those who access episcopal dignity, America is the continent where they are more numerous, with 1,008 diocesans and 992 religious. Europe still has 664 diocesan and 1,002 religious bishops. Both regions, which continue ahead of the others, are down.
On the other hand, Asian bishops have increased slightly in recent years, until reaching 459 diocesans and 358 religious. Also in Africa they have grown up, up to 481 diocesans and 259 religious. The same goes for in Asia, with 70 diocesan and 60 religious prelates.
“Overwhelming” female predominance in religious life
In the field of religious orders and secular institutes, the female predominance “is overwhelming.” Worldwide, at the end of 2022, there were 16 religious women for each man, being the proportion in secular institutes from 31 to 1.
The study emphasizes that, in this section, “the high number of religious and members of secular institutes in Asia is very remarkable in relation to the number of Catholics.”
On the other hand, the CEU-CEFAS report highlights that “America is the continent with more lay and catechist missionaries.” Specifically, it has more than 350,0000 lay missionaries and more than one and a half million catechists. Despite this, these figures are lower than in previous years and only Africa has increased their statistics in this section.
United States, in line with the European decline
The report also emphasizes that in the United States the Catholic Church experiences an online decline with the European. In 2007, 24% was identified as a Catholic, when it currently does only 20%, despite the growing importance of the population of Hispanic origin and, therefore, of the Catholic root.
In addition, it is underlined that Mass Sunday assistance “has fallen considerably in recent decades and is minority among the US Catholics, although there are still many practicing Catholics.”
In any case, with greater or lesser presence according to the continents, the Catholic Church continues to perform a “gigantic social and beneficence work” worldwide.
“The humanitarian action of the Church, selfless, has no paragon, especially in the fields of extreme poverty care (in which Cáritas and Manos United play a great role), to health, in the care of elders or teaching,” says the report.
This translates into more than 70.6 million students and students worldwide, of which 40% are in Africa. In addition, the Catholic Church has more than 5,400 hospitals, 14,000 dispensaries and 525 leproserías.
In the field of attention to the most vulnerable, elderly, people with disabilities and children, there are more than 115,000 senior centers linked to the Catholic Church and about 9,000 orphanages.
Spain: almost half of Catholics are never going to Mass
The report prepared by the Center for Studies linked to the Catholic Association of Propagandists, notes that currently, “although the vast majority of Spaniards were baptized and are ‘culturally Catholic’, practicing Catholics are minority in Spain.”
This is reflected in “the collapse of weddings by the Church, the much lower assistance to Mass, the data of the surveys on religious feeling, the fall of the vocations to the priesthood or the number of baptisms in relation to that of births (so is the collapse of fertility), as well as the fall of fertility, greater in the most religious people.”
This collaborates, although minority, the growing immigration from non -Catholic countries, while “Hispanic -American immigrants are a demographic vector of Catholicism growth in Spain.”
According to surveys of the Sociological Research Center (CIS), 55.5% declare themselves Catholics and only 18.7% as “practical Catholics.”
Thus, among the Catholics, 47% does not go to the Eucharist never or almost ever, which implies that “only regularly assists equivalent religious mass or ceremonies, an adult of every six among the general population,” the report exposes.
In absolute terms, this means that more than 8 million people regularly attend the weekly Eucharist.
On the other hand, the percentage of baptized babies and children who make the first communion is less than 50%, canonical marriages “have collapsed.” In 1996, they were 77%. As of 2001, a continuous fall began, until it was located in 2009 below civilians. At present, less than 30,000 canonical weddings are held per year, while civil unions exceed 134,000.
Less priests, more elderly and without relay
Regarding the number of priests, the report stands out that it has dropped by 40% in the last 50 years, from 72 per 100,000 inhabitants to 32.
“To worsen things, the rhythm of decline in the number of priests in Spain in recent years has been especially intense, since only between 2017 and 2023 3,300 were lost,” the study said.
In addition, the aging of presbyters is evident, going from an average of 35 years in 1960 to more than 65 years today.
As if that were not enough, the replacement is not assured: “In the 2023-2024 course, 143 young people entered the Spanish seminars, in which there were, with them, 956 seminarians. In 2023 79 new priests were ordered. It is a very low figure, since, assuming 50 years of active priestly life (…) it would imply that there would be only 4,000 Spanish priests long ”.
“If every year they cause low for any reason 1 of every 50 of the priests, that would imply a decrease of 300. compared to additional 79 do not cover even 30% of the replacement needs (about 300). In 1965, there were only 530 parishes without a priest; in 2022 they were 3,215,” the report specifies.
The great collapse of major seminarians in Spain was lived after the Second Vatican Council, which between 1965 and 1975 went from 8,079 to 1,613.
Beyond the diocesan clerical world, the scope of religious orders also goes down. At present, there are 408 religious institutes and societies of apostolic life (300 female and 108 male) distributed in more than 4,000 communities, for a total of 32,531 religious, which represents 11% less than eight years ago.
The Spanish missionaries, meanwhile, remain the first “power” within the Catholic Church. However, they are already a quarter less than in 2015.
Nicolás de Cárdenas
Born in 1980, I am a Spanish and journalist’s husband and father with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media, specialized in socio -political and religious information. I have worked more than 10 years in defense of human rights and I have accreditations in journalism and comprehensive communication. Since July 2022, I am a correspondent for ACI Press and Ewtn News in Spain, covering international events of the Catholic Church.