The number of Catholic priests and bishops worldwide have decreased while the overall number of Catholics have increased, according to the latest Church’s Book of Statistics.
Every year Fides News Agency puts together a Church statistics ahead of World Mission Sunday, which this year is celebrated on October 22, The numbers were collated from the latest Church’s Book of Statistics that was updated to December 31, 2021. The statistics relate to members of the Church, church structures, healthcare, welfare and education.
World Mission Sunday falls on the penultimate Sunday of October every year. The theme of this year’s observance is “Hearts on fire, feet on the move”, taken from the story of the disciples of Emmaus, in the Gospel of Luke (LK 24:13-35).
Pope Pius XI instituted World Mission Sunday in 1926, The annual day encourages prayers, cooperation and help for missions as well as reminding Christians about the fundamental missionary character of the Church and of every baptized person,
Watch the video created to celebrate World Mission Day 2023
Church statistics as of December 31, 2021
‘World population was 7,785,769,000, with an increase of 118,633,000 compared to the previous year (Increase registered in all continents except Europe)
‘Catholics in the world numbered 1,375,852,000, with an overall increase of 16,240,000 compared to the previous year. (Increase affects all continents, except Europe (-244,000)), Increases were registered in Africa (+8,312,000) and in America (+6,629,000), followed by Asia (+1,488,000) and Oceania (+55,000).
“Total number of Bishops in the world decreased by 23, to 5,340.
“Total number of priests in the world decreased to 407,872 (-2,347)