The Annuario Pontificio provides detailed information about the life of the Catholic Church around the world as of 2024, while the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae offers a snapshot of key quantitative aspects of the Church’s pastoral activity globally.
Here are some of the key findings:
- The global Catholic population grew by 1.15%, rising from approximately 1.390 to 1.406 billion.
- Africa is home to 20% of the world’s Catholics and is characterized by a particularly dynamic spread of the Catholic Church.
- With a growth rate of 0.9%, the Americas remain the continent with the largest share of the Catholic population, accounting for 47.8% globally:
- 27.4% in South America (Brazil alone, with 182 million Catholics, makes up 13% of the global total and remains the country with the highest number of Catholics),
- 6.6% in North America,
- and 13.8% in Central America.
- In Asia, the Catholic population increased by 0.6%.
- Europe, which hosts 20.4% of the global Catholic community, remains the least dynamic region, with a modest 0.2% growth over the last two years.
- Oceania also saw an increase in its Catholic population compared to previous years.
As for Church leadership and clergy:
- The number of bishops worldwide rose by 1.4% over the past two years.
- The number of priests—both diocesan and religious—increased in Africa and Asia:
- In Africa, diocesan priests rose by 3.3% and religious priests by 1.4%.
- In the Americas, there was a notable increase in diocesan clergy in Central and Latin America.
- Europe experienced a decline of 1.6% in priest numbers, while Oceania also saw a smaller drop of 1.0%.
Permanent deacons continue to be the fastest-growing group among clerics, with a 2.6% increase. However, regional disparities remain:
- Oceania saw the most significant growth at +10.8%, followed by the Americas at +3.8%.
- In contrast, slight decreases were recorded in both Africa and Europe.
Source: Vatican News
