The number of Catholics worldwide is rising fastest in Africa while the church continues to suffer from a shortage of priests in some parts of the world.

According to the Vatican’s latest statistics, released on April 6, the number of Catholics globally rose 1%, to 1.3 billion, in 2015.

In Africa, the number of baptized Catholics rose 19% – to 222 million, from 186 million in 2014. The Vatican noted that America — North, Central and South — had the greatest concentration of Catholics, while numbers in Europe remained relatively stable.

Despite an increase in the number of Catholics, there was a fall in the number of priests called to ministry in some parts of the world. The number of priests rose by more than 1,100 in Africa and 1,100 in Asia but fell by 2,502 (6 percent) in Europe between 2014 and 2015. There were a total of 47 new priests in the Americas in 2015.

“After reaching its highest in 2011, the number of seminarians has been undergoing a gradual contraction,” the Vatican said. “The only exception is Africa, which does not seem affected by the vocation crisis for the moment and will remain the region with the greatest potential.”

Worldwide, there were 466,215 ordained Catholics, including 5,304 bishops, 415,656 priests and 45,255 deacons. Brazil had the highest number of Catholics – 172 million – accounting for 1 in 4 Catholics in the Ameri-cas, while Mexico had 110 million and the U.S. recorded 72 million Catholics. Colombia had 45 million, Argentina 41 million.

A German theologian-bishop has called for the ordination of woman deacons, saying it is more important than relaxing mandatory celibacy or ordaining married men of proven virtue (viri probati) to the priesthood. “Women should be ordained deacons. It is a sign of the times,” said Bishop Gebhard Fürst of Rottenburg-Stuttgart.

He told a 27 March gathering of the German Catholic Women’s Association (KDFB) the time had come for women deacons. The association, which has been demanding the move for over twenty years, was marking its 100th anniversary.

In his keynote address to the group, Bishop Fürst said the faithful had been waiting for decades for the Church to answer the question of women deacons. He said the answer was therefore long overdue and now imperative.

The 68-year-old bishop, who succeeded Cardinal Walter Kasper some seventeen years ago as head of the diocese, said he interpreted Pope Francis’ silence on the issue was a sign that the Pope was “not totally opposed” to the subject.

Bp Fürst said he intended to campaign for the women’s diaconate in German bishops’ conference since its members were divided on the issue. How-ever, his spokesman Uwe Renz told the German daily Stuttgarter Nachrichten (27 March) that the bishop would not be appealing directly to the Vatican.

Germany has no plans to introduce an ‘Islam law’ codifying the rights and obligations of Muslims, a government spokesman said on Monday (April 3), dismissing an idea floated by allies of Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of federal elections in September.

Merkel, who will seek a fourth term in what is expected to be a close-fought ballot, has come under fire for opening Germany’s doors to refugees, more than one million of whom – mostly Muslims – have entered the country over the past two years.

Seeking to boost support for the chancellor’s conservatives, senior Merkel ally Julia Kloeckner stoked the integration debate at the weekend by calling for stricter rules for Islamic preachers and a ban on foreign funding of mosques.

Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert dismissed the idea, which Kloeckner – who is deputy leader of the chancellor’s Christian Democrats (CDU) – and other senior party members want to enshrine in an Islam law.

“Such a law is now not an issue for government business,” Seibert told a news conference, stressing the high regard Merkel’s ruling coalition has for religious freedom in Germany.

The Archbishop of West-minster and four British imams will meet with Pope Francis in a long planned trip that the Cardinal says will help build interfaith relations following the Westminster terrorist attack which left five dead and around 50 injured. They are due to have a papal audience on 5 April, exactly two weeks after Islamic extremist Khalid Masood, drove a car into pedestrians crossing Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing a police officer outside the Houses of Parliament.