Catholic laity grow in number as priests and seminarians continue decline

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The number of Catholics globally has increased but priests and seminarians continue to decline, according to the latest figures released by the Vatican.

Catholics now number 1.406 billion globally, according to the Vatican. The figures form part of the annual statistics on the state of the Church, and cover the time period from 2022 to the end of 2023.

The trends of recent years have been repeated, with growth especially found in Africa while Europe stagnates.

Catholic laity increasing

This number of Catholics marks a growth from the 1.39 billion recorded in 2022.

The highest growth was seen in the continent of Africa, which recorded an increase from 272 million in 2022 to 281 million in 2023 – a 3.31% growth.

Of the African continent, a handful of countries stand out as the most populously Catholic: the Democratic Republic of Congo first with nearly 55 million Catholics, followed by 35 million in Nigeria, and then Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya.

Africa, the report documented, is home to “20% of the Catholics of the entire planet and is characterized by a highly dynamic spread of the Catholic Church.”

But though Africa saw the largest growth, it does not have the largest proportion of Catholics. South America has 27.4% of the world’s Catholics – the largest single concentration in any one continent.

Some 13.8% of the world’s Catholics live in Central America while 6.6% live in North America.

The Americas as a whole saw only a 0.9% growth in the time recorded, with no more precise details for North and South America’s growth provided.

Aside from the areas of highest growth (Africa) and the most Catholics (South America) come also Europe, Asia and Oceania.

Europe is home to 20.4% of the world’s Catholics but only saw a growth of just 0.2% in numbers.

Asia is home to 11% of the Catholic Church, seeing only a modest growth of 0.6% in the time period.

Oceania saw a larger growth of 1.9%, up to some 11 million Catholics at the end of 2023.

Most Catholics:

• 27.4% — South America
• 20.4% — Europe
• 20% — Africa
• 13.8% — Central America
• 11% — Asia
• 6.6% — North America
• 0.8% — Oceania

Relative growth in Catholics:

• 3.31% — Africa
• 1.9% — Oceania
• 0.9% — The Americas
• 0.6% — Asia
• 0.2% — Europe

More bishops, fewer priests and seminarians

While global figures of Catholic laity are on the rise, the number of priests serving them has decreased, as has the number of seminarians. And while bishops are slightly higher in number than in the previous year’s figures, the downward trend of seminarians has been constant for over a decade, prompting notable concerns about the future.

Firstly, the number of bishops in the Catholic Church grew from numbering 5,353 in 2022 to 5,430 in 2023.

But there are only 406,996 priests, which is a drop of over 700 from 2022. This decrease is not global: numbers grew in Africa and Asia but fell in Europe, America and Oceania.

The majority of priests (some 38.1%) are found in Europe, which has seen the lowest growth in Catholics in the latest figures. In contrast the fewest amount of priests are in Oceania then Africa, with 1.1% and 13.5% of the total number clergy respectively. The Vatican speaks of a shortage of priests especially in Africa and South America, when clergy are contrasted to the large numbers of faithful present.

As for major seminarians, the decrease which was first registered in 2012 still continues uninterrupted. There are only 106,495 seminarians globally as of 2023, down from 108,481 in 2022.

This 1.8% decline is across the board, with the continued exception of Africa where there has been a 1.1% increase.

Europe, Asia and America have recorded particularly significant declines in seminarian numbers.

As a result, Africa and Asia are still supporting the Church in terms of clergy numbers. Over 61% over seminarians hail from the two continents, while America and Europe provide less than 38% of the total.

Religious and permanent deacons

Continuing a growing trend, the number of permanent deacons rose again in 2023, after an initial explosion in numbers after Vatican II. In fact, the Vatican describes this body as the fastest growing of all clerics. They have grown from 50,150 in 2022 to 51,433 in 2023: with largest growth seen in Oceania and Europe.

Meanwhile, another previous trend has also continued as male and female religious declined again in 2023. Female religious fell from 599,228 in 2022 to 589,423 in 2023. Africa, once again, bucked the global trend by registering an increase, but not enough to reverse the global decline.