A Pew Research poll predicts that, based on current trends, the number of Muslims worldwide will be nearly equal to the number of Christians by 2050. In conversations, you might hear this statement as proof that Islam is growing and other religions (such as Christianity) are quickly declining. But such a conclusion is misleading and does not take into consideration a number of realities happening throughout the Muslim world.
Research reveals the cultural tendencies in Muslim families, not the attractiveness of Islam itself, explains the demographic surge. The growing number of Muslims is not primarily caused by conversion but is due instead to Muslim families producing more children. The higher rela-tive birth-rate occurs for various social and religious reasons, including the fact that, in most Muslim-dominant societies, women have few opportunities outside the home.
Of course, some converts are choosing Islam—but we should acknowledge recent research demonstrating that conversion works in two directions.
Consider the Muslim popu-lation in the United States. In January 2018, a Pew Research study declared that the number of converts to Islam almost equa-lled the number who abandoned the faith. Thus, there was virtua-lly no net growth at all. This study also found that about 25% of adult Muslims raised in the United States no longer identified as Muslims.
Catholics number 1,344,403,000, 17.74% of the world population
Catholics numbered 1,344,403,000 as of 31 December 2019, up by 15,410,000 over the previous year, while the world popu-lation stood at 7,577,777,000, up by 81,383,000 over the same period, Agenzia Fides reported to mark the 95th World Mission Day, which will be celebrated on 24 October.
The increase touches every continent, except Europe (-292,000). As in the past, the highest increases were reported in Africa (+8,302,000), Americas (+5,373,000), Asia (+1,909,000), and Oceania (+118,000).
The worldwide percentage of Catholics increased compared to the previous year, reaching 17.74 per cent. With respect to the continents, variations are minimal: increases in Africa (+0.14), Asia (+0.02), and the Americas (+0.09); decrease in Europe (-0.05); no change in Oceania.
The number of Bishops dropped by 13 to 5,364. Dio-cesan Bishops gained 12 new members, but religious bisho-ps declined by 25. Diocesan Bishops increased in Africa (+11), Asia (+5), Europe (+4) and Oceania (+2); decreased only in America (-10). Religious Bishops declined on all continents: Africa (-6), America (-7), Asia (-5), Europe (-4) and Oceania (-3). The total number of priests in the world went up, to 414,336 (+271). Europe again reported a major drop (-2,608) as did the Americas (-690) and Oceania (-69). Increases were reported in Africa (+1,649) and Asia (+1,989).
Permanent deacons also increased (+734) to 48,238. The largest gain was in the Americas (+562), followed by Europe (+177), Oceania (+5), Africa (+1), decreasing only in Asia (-11).
Adults from Afghanistan, Iran, prepare to be baptized as Catholics in Vienna
Eleven people from Afghanistan are among the 27 adults who will soon be baptized as Catholics in Austria’s Vienna archdiocese.
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna formally welcomed the candidates for adult baptism at a ceremony on Oct. 20 at a Carmelite church in the city’s Döbling district. In addition to the 11 Afghans, there are six Iranians and four Austrians, with the remainder from five other countries.
More than two-thirds of the catechumens are male and between the ages of 20 and 40.
The 76-year-old cardinal told the candi-dates: “Being a Christian imparts a hope that is greater than the problems and crises of this world and also greater than the personal blows of fate that some of you have already experi-enced.”
Afghanistan is the world’s second-worst country in which to be a Christian after North Korea, according to the advocacy group Open Doors, which ranks Iran in eighth place.
Celeb Anglican Bishop Comes Home to Rome
Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, England – once the see of English martyr St John Fisher – and a champion of persecuted Christians in Islamic countries, has joined the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
“I write to let you know of my reception into the ordinariate established for Anglicans who wish to be in full commun-ion with the See of Peter,” Lord Nazir-Ali announced.
“I am doing so because I believe that the traditional Anglican desire to adhere to the fullness of apostolic, patristic and conciliar teaching can now best be maintained in this way,” he explained.
An Ordinariate priest told Church Militant that “Lord Nazir-Ali is the most high-profile convert from the Church of England to Rome for the last 100 years, probably since the con-version of the intellectual giant Msgr Ronald Knox.”
Such a high-profile conver-sion is a setback to ecumenism.
“Michael is one of the most prodigious intellects of our time, a heroic apologist for the faith, a bulwark against radical Islam, a laser-sharp cultural commenta-tor, a persuasive preacher, a pa-ssionate evangelist of the highest calibre, and a brilliant linguist and poet,” the priest said.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, will ordain the former Anglican pre-late to the Catholic priesthood October 30 at the Ordinariate pro-cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption & St Gregory at Golden Square in London.
Polish bishops, at Vatican, call punishment for abuse cover-up lopsided
The president of the Polish Bishops’ conference said that in meetings with a Vatican official, several church leaders criticized the Vatican’s handling of sex abuse cases, particularly “dispro-portionate punishments” inflicted on bishops accused of cover-ups in comparison with convicted abusers.
Archbishop Stanislaw Gade-cki, conference president, told Poland’s Catholic Information Agency, KAI, that Polish bishops met with Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, at the Vatican October 12. He said the bishops were trying to be faithful to Pope Francis’ May 2019 motu proprio, “Vos Estis Lux Mundi,” revising and clarifying norms and pro-cedures for holding bishops and religious superiors accountable for protecting abusers.
“Our task is to work with the Holy Father in clearing up our church’s current situation, which has undermined trust among certain people,” Gadecki told KAI after the meeting with Ouellet. The meeting was part of the bishops’ “ad limina” visit to meet with Vatican officials every five years.
“But critical remarks have been made about the Holy See’s treatment of bishops who’ve had punishments imposed for short-comings, transgressions or acts of forgetfulness in dealing with clergy accused of paedophilia. Some (Polish bishops) highlight-ed the disproportionate, lasting penalties imposed on bishops after initial investigations, when paedophile criminals can leave prison after five years and begin a new life with a clean sheet.”
Biden taps pro-life Democrat as US Ambassador to the Vatican
After months of anticipa-tion, the White House announ-ced on October 8 afternoon that President Joe Biden will nominate former U.S. Senator Joseph Donnelly as the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.
Like President Joe Biden, Donnelly is a devout Irish Catholic.
Donnelly, a Democrat, was senator from Indiana from 2013-2019 and was a member of the U.S. House of Repre-sentatives from 2007 to 2013, representing Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District.
“I am truly honoured to be nominated to this role by President Biden, a man of faith and a friend,” Donnelly said in a statement to Insider. “If confirmed, I look forward to working with the Holy See on a wide variety of issues, in-cluding human rights, religious freedom, immigration, climate change, peace, and poverty.”
Donnelly, a pro-life Democrat, didn’t mention issues of life, mainly abortion. Biden, the second Catholic president in U.S. history has been under fire from many Catholics since the election for his pro-abortion stance. This includes from a portion of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that have advocated he, and other pro-abortion politicians including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi be barred from receiving communion.
From abortionist to pro-life leader: What changed this doctor’s heart?
Kathi Aultman was six weeks postpartum when she returned to work at an abortion clinic in Gainesville, Florida. She performed abortions on the weekends to earn money while in medical school.
“I felt really strongly that abortion was a woman’s right,” Aultman told in an interview on September 17 interview. “I mean, I bought the whole thing: hook, line, and sinker.” “I even did abortions when I was pregnant — very pregnant. But I didn’t see any contradiction. My baby was wanted, theirs wasn’t. If they wanted to abort their baby, that was their right.”
But Aultman remembers something was different about that first abortion she performed after delivering and caring for her own baby. For the first time in her life, Aultman made the connection that the unborn child she was aborting was, in fact, a child. Not dissimilar to her own child.
Aultman completed the abortion, and she continued to perform abortions in the weeks that followed. But she said her experience that first day back from maternity leave marked the beginning of her journey toward be-coming a pro-life advocate.
Today, Aultman has testified on pro-life issues before state and congre-ssional bodies and state courts, and has assisted various state attorneys and the Justice Department in considering cases related to abortion. She was a speaker at the 2019 March for Life in Washington.
Most recently, Aultman was one of 240 of pro-life women to sign an amicus brief in support of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case out of Mississippi that has the potential of overturning federal protection for abortion in the United States.
“I was fascinated,” she said. “I thought they were so interesting. I love[d] sending foetal parts down to pathology so I could look at the slides and see what the embryonic tissue looked like. I did not see them as people.”
Suddenly, Aultman saw herself as a mass murderer. It happened to be within a few years of the arrest and execution of infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, and Aultman remembers thinking that she had probably killed a lot more people than Bundy had.
“That was the point when I understood that abortion was wrong, and I became pro-life.”
Rally launched to promote communal harmony in Kerala
Leaders of various religious communities and social organizations have started a journey in the southern Indian state of Kerala to promote communal harmony and national integration.
The journey named ‘Sarva Dharma Sadbhavana Yatra’ (Journey to foster goodwill among all religions, is an initiative of the Dharmabharathi mo-vement and promoted by a 16-member team. The journey was flagged off October 8 from Ananda Ashram, a Hindu centre, in Kasargod, Kerala’s northernmost town. It will end October 14 at Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital in the south.
Displaying cross no sign of religious conversion, says Indian court
A top court in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has ruled that a Dalit Hindu woman marrying a Christian or displaying religious symbols such as the cross cannot be cited as reasons to revoke her scheduled caste (SC) community certification. The Madurai bench of Madras High Court held that hanging the cross on a wall or going to church does not necessarily mean one has altogether abandoned the original faith to which one was born and cannot be the basis for cancelling an SC certificate.
The bench was hearing the case of Dr. P. Muneeswari, who belongs to the Hindu Pallan community. Her SC certificate was cancelled by district officials in Ramana-thapuram in 2013 on grounds that she was married to a Christian man and their child-ren were also being brought up in the Christian faith. The officials had reached the decision after finding a cross hanging on the wall of her clinic and concluded that she had converted to Christianity and hence was not liable to continue as a member of her Hindu SC community.
Members of the Hindu Dalit or former untouchable communities in India are often discriminated against under the centuries-old caste system. In legal and constitutional terms, they are now listed as scheduled castes enabling them to access the government’s affirmative action policies and programs.
Dalits who converted to Christianity and Islam are excluded from India’s affirmative action plan that includes reservations in educational institutions and government jobs among other social welfare schemes.
R.S.S. Magazine wants probe into Indian Catholic clergy
Panchjanya, a weekly ma-gazine linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has sought an inquiry into the Indian Catholic Church and its clergy while citing the recent expose of child sexual abuse within the French Church.
In its latest issue, which will hit the stands on Oct. 17, the magazine has reportedly published a cover story on the sexual exploitation of children and nuns by priests across the world.
Panchjanya, published in Hindi to uphold Hindu patri-otism in keeping with the objectives of the nationalist RSS, has claimed that incidents of sexual exploitation of children and nuns are on the rise in India too.
Referring to the reported incidents of rape of a woman in a missionary college in Che-nnai and a nun from Kerala, the magazine has said the people of the country wanted a probe against the Church and its priests.
Detailing the inquiry that unearthed the scale of abuse within the French Church, the magazine termed the earlier apology by Pope Francis in 2019 for such incidents a “formality under pressure.”
It went on to question and blame the style of functioning of the Church for the declining number of religious nuns acro-ss the globe. A similar trend was witnessed in the southern Indian state of Kerala and so the Church was targeting girls from poor families in under-developed states such as Chha-ttisgarh, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha, the maga-zine alleged.